


Our Journey Together

by DarkOwlFeather



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: A Serie of somehow more or less linked one-shots, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, And see the characters happy, Body descriptions, Confessions and World Saving in chap 5, Drawings, F/F, F/M, Fluff in chap 1, Hurt/comfort in chap 2, I frankly have no idea of what I'm writing..., I just love to write..., Introspection, Might rename the story later, No Zhan Tiri, No longer a one-shot, Not Beta Read, One Shot, PTSD in chap 4, Rest of the team in the background, Romance, Secrets, Series of shorts scenes, Slices of life during the journey in Season 2, Tags May Change, That seems to sum up pretty well the story, They communicate more than in the canon, Understanding in chap 3, they support each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25548112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkOwlFeather/pseuds/DarkOwlFeather
Summary: Art means a lot in Rapunzel's life, and she has always drawn and painted whenener she could, even when she’s on the road with her friends. Among them all, one person seems to be the perfect model.Between the scenes during Season 2, then kind of rewrite of few episodes.Tags and summary may evolve to correspond to most chapters, as it is no longer a one-shot.Basically: what if Cassunzel actually happened during their journey, with the help of few drawings?(Previously titled "An Artist and her Model" from when it was only a one-shot)
Relationships: Cassandra/Rapunzel (Disney: Tangled), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 4
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to the RTA team for their Emmy Awards ! 🥳
> 
> I wrote this days ago and though I'm a bit late for Cassunzel week, it can go with the theme "Secrets".
> 
> This chapter was inspired by the “draw me like one of your French girls” meme.  
> Warning for implied nudity. No sexual content so rating stays T ;-)  
> The scene takes place at the island, but frankly, it could happen a bit everywhere in season 2 before the Great Tree (see end notes for the headcanon).  
> Enjoy!

The island was calm. It happened, once in a while, when no mermen or ancient totems were troubling the fragile peace of the place. It was rare, still it happened.

That night, everyone was ready to sleep at the beach house Cassandra and Rapunzel had built. Frankly, after the disasters the other team had encountered, it was their unique sleeping place aside from the caravan they had started rebuilding.

So, that night, as everything had been perfect since the sunrise, someone knocked at the ladies door. Inside, there was only Cass, ready to slip under the light covers, as Rapunzel was out at the caravan taking some stuff. Reluctantly, with a grumble, the swordswoman put a cover around herself and went to the door, only to open to Eugene, a big flowers bouquet in one hand.

“Hi, Cassandra,” he said, without looking at her, his other hand in front of his eyes, “I know this is your room and I have nothing, absolutely nothing to say to you about the way you dress, but tell me you’re not naked under that cover. ‘Cause it’s really transparent.”

“What do you want, Fitzherbert?” she asked, not minding his comment.

“Well, you see, the day was wonderful, the night is beautiful, and I was wondering if you could, well, let Rapunzel and I have a kind of a date night, you see?”

“I see. And?”

“Well, logic and decency would be for you to please step out of the room, with clothes on, and leave the place to Blondie and I,” he said with a daring wide smile.

“And what if I don’t? You’ll push me out of here? Come on, here I am, here I stay, Fitzherbert. Deal with it.”

“Oh, I’ll do it, Cassandra,” he said with the accent she so disliked. “By the way, where’s Blondie? She could help me on that one.”

“She’s at the caravan. Had to take some drawing stuff or so she told me. Maybe she’s getting something special for you,” Cass said with a side grin.

From the window, Pascal gave a tired yawn. The chameleon patted the dry grass that formed his nest, and prepared himself to sleep.

“See, even Pascal’s tired of you speaking,” said Eugene to Cass. “Care leaving now or do I have to make you?”

Behind Eugene, Cassandra saw Rapunzel coming back to the house, a big bag of supplies in her arms. The artist princess waved at her girlfriend and boyfriend, before running a bit to climb the few steps of the ladder.

“Hi, Sunshine,” started Eugene, not letting Cass speak first for nothing in the world. “How would you like spending some time with yours truly? I have a perfect night planned for just the two of us. You just have to say the word.”

“Oh, Eugene, that would be wonderful! Thank you!” Raps said as she kissed him, hanging from his neck as she had jumped to greet him. “But, I already have something planned for tonight… Is tomorrow okay?”

“Wait, what do you mean, you got something tonight? What about me?”

“Not everything is about you, Fitzherbert,” said Cass, laying down on her couch.

“Yeah, I’d love to spend time with you, Eugene, it’s just… Not tonight. Is it alright?”

“Well, Blondie, I gotta say, I hadn’t thought of that, but yeah, tomorrow’s great. Well… I guess I’ll see you in the morning, then. ‘night, girls.”

“Good night, Eugene,” Rapunzel said, while leaning on him for a good night kiss on his lips.

He handed her the flowers, and left, a bit disappointed, sure, but hey, it was not a no, just a not yet. He knew he had to wait. It was okay. It happened. It was Rapunzel, after all. She was the one to decide when she was ready. And he respected that. Man, what would the old Flynn Rider think of him if he knew that? Meh, no matter, that guy was long gone.

Inside the room, Rapunzel was getting her stuff out of the bag, and set each lead pencil, paper, color pencil, paint and brushes so she could get them easily. She went up to sit near Cass, who was laying on her side, looking at her friend.

Rapunzel had in hands one of her sketchbooks she had brought in Vardaros. Sure, she still completed the one her mother had given her, but some things were just not to be found among the journey’s souvenirs on the day she’ll show her whole family the book. That was why she kept it at the caravan and not with her in her bag.

In that other sketchbook, a rather simple one as she hadn’t even paint the cover, she flipped through the pages, as her and Cass looked at her previous drawings for inspiration. After a while, Cass stopped her at the end of the drawings, at a blank page.

“Let’s go?” Raps asked.

“Yeah. How do you want me to be tonight?”

Raps stood up again to sit back on the cushions around which her drawing material was ready, and looked up to Cass. The princess artist was holding one of her pen in front of her with an eye closed, looking to have a bit of a reference point for her drawing.

“There, lean a bit more on your right side. Perfect. Can you put your right arm above your head, yeah like that, like you’re nearly sleeping on it. The left… Let’s see… put it on your side or your stomach, just hanging there. Yeah, like that. Great.”

“Legs?”

“Well… cover then.”

Raps giggled a bit.

Though she had been drawing her friend for quite some time now, it still felt a bit strange to just ask her to reveal herself as casually as that, knowing how Cassandra usually was about her personal space. Yet the older woman seemed to enjoy this intimacy they shared, so Raps had stopped asking her if it was okay, if she wanted to have a bit of fabric or decorations to hide parts of her body. Raps felt herself blush a bit more when Cass had reveal herself completely out of the cover, without anything from hair to toes, and was looking at her. Raps looked back, still as an artist looks her model, but even more as she would look a lover. It was still a lot to process.

She glanced around, searching something.

“What is it?” asked Cass, noticing her glare around the room.

“Feels like something’s missing…” answered Raps. “Ah, there!”, she said, finding a piece of decoration.

She extended her arm to catch the flower bouquet Eugene had brought earlier. The flowers scented still perfectly fresh. She smiled at the attention.

She took one flower and gave it to Cass, still in position to be the model. Raps put the flower gently between her ear and hair, and braided few others to make a bit of a floral crown. The rest of the undone bouquet was put on the couch to decorate a bit more.

“There,” said Raps, looking at Cass and the flowers from her seat. “Perfection.”

She took her sketchbook on her lap and a pencil. As she drew, her glance went to Cass, to the paper and set to an alternation between both. As the light started to fall after a while, she lighted another set of candles and went back to drawing.

She felt on the paper the curves of her friend, her face and her smile and all that made Cass who she was. These firm muscles on arms, legs and torso, these scars a bit everywhere, that not quite black hair and those deep hazel eyes that could shoot daggers at Eugene and Cupid’s arrows at Rapunzel at the same time. And as neither of the women in the expedition was enough stressed by the kingdom’s decorum to shave, Rapunzel thoughtfully shaded a bit her lady’s bare armpits and legs. The flowers around her were away from her usual accessories, Raps knew it, but those, tonight, brought to the surface the gentle Cass the swordswoman kept hidden under her heavy armor. And Raps knew Cass was both the fierce adversary ready to join the guard as she was her great friend, lover now that they had told each other how they felt.

On all the previous pages of this sketchbook were drawings of Cass, sat, standing up or just like tonight, laying sometimes dressed sometimes undressed, in the caravan, in a field or here on the island. That was their little secret, and an excuse for Rapunzel to always sketch a bit now and then. Yet, she didn’t know how the team would feel about them. How Eugene would feel. Rapunzel had told him she wasn’t yet ready to be engaged. But what if her newborn relationship with her brave best friend was the end of Eugene and her? She tried to not think of it. She loved them both. The same way? That was a difficult question. She loved them both, there was no question about it. She’d do all in her power so she wouldn’t have to choose between them.

The drawings all started a day, not long after they left Corona, when Rapunzel was drawing from the caravan’s roof window. She could have been sketching the landscapes, the forests and plains, the rivers and caves, but no. She was drawing from up there Cass and Eugene, who that day were the two persons riding the caravan. Then, after two days, during the diner, as she usually was drawing the whole campfire scenery, she caught herself drawing only Cass, who was thoughtlessly keeping the fire alive. That night, Rapunzel had took the page away from her sketchbook. It was still the book her mother had given her.

In Vardaros, when at last they were without any life changing mission for the town, she bought several new sketchbooks and pencils, just in case. The day after they left the city, she was drawing in one of her new book the profile of her fierce friend she was sitting next to in front of the caravan. She knew Cass must have seen her, yet the warrior did nothing, if not for a simple smile. That same day, at night in their room, Cass asked the artist if she was such a great model, and Rapunzel could only say yes to her friend. Not only was it true from a purely artistic perspective, but with that “yes”, Cass seized the opportunity to tell her friend how she felt about her. It wasn’t easy, the woman never had been at her best with emotions, yet she told her. And Raps had returned the sentiment, which, for a fraction of seconds, surprised Cassandra, who had nearly convinced herself she would be rejected after what all the ever-so-boring and decorum-filled etiquette lessons had inculquate to the princess since her arrival at the castle.

Yet, as of now on the island, Rapunzel still didn’t really know deep in her if she had returned her love from her friend because she equally cared romantically for Cass… The only relationship she had ever been engaged in romantically was with Eugene, when she had declared her love by jumping at his neck after bringing him back to life, and after knowing him for literally two days. Not quite the same as flirting through drawings for even more than a week and knowing the other one for more than a year. Did she still love Eugene as if it was their first day? Who could tell if Raps herself didn’t know? She loved Eugene. She loved Cass. She loved them both. She couldn’t choose between those she loves. Not now, not ever.

What wasn’t a question was that from that fateful day in the caravan, her drawings weren’t simple sketches anymore. Before, they were sketches stolen from everywhere activities, and now they had become more daring drawings, decorated, where she took her time, catching her friend’s pose they’d decide together. It could be somewhere during a day pause, in a field where they’d sit in the high grass, as well as rainy nights in the caravan among piles of covers.

Cass always told Rapunzel she didn’t want the others to know for the both of them. She thought, after her nearly eviction from the castle before they attacked Varian’s lair at Old Corona, that it would be best for everyone to avoid creating gossip. She was secretive, and had her reasons.

Who knew how fast the news could go? With that kind of information, she knew she was good to leave once and for all and be apart from Rapunzel for as long as they lived. She was her handmaiden, her lady-in-waiting to anyone who didn’t know the true Cassandra. She knew she couldn’t possibly get to by the one to one day be forever with Rapunzel. Moreover now that Eugene had thought well to ask the princess in front of everyone months ago.

Speaking of him, the warrior had never trusted Eugene, and for nothing in the world would she let him know about them. Was it a bit of childish jealousy? Probably. From Cass as well as from Eugene. None could tell how he would react. She knew Rapunzel had told him she would marry him someday, but not yet. He would have every reason in the world to feel put aside, to be brokenhearted, and Cass knew Raps would never pardon herself for letting him feel that way.

Yet keeping the secret was like keeping a sword of Damocles above their heads, and who could tell what would happen, was this sword to fall? The women never talked of that. Both knew, one day, they’d have to take Eugene aside and tell him, before he discovered by himself. But the recent misadventure with Hook Foot’s sweetheart pushed away again the possibility of talking to him. How could they talk to him about something private, that only concerned the three of them, if the whole kingdom would hear about it the minute they’d say anything? Truly, nothing really looked good about exposing their relationship to Eugene.

Rapunzel kept drawing, backing away those thoughts. She was looking less and less both at the paper and Cass, her eyes wandering as her mind was elsewhere. When she looked back her sketchbook, she stopped. Her drawing was perfect. She had captured Cass’ expression, the way she was laying with the shadow of the flowers gently against her skin, and the lightning here, and at the same time, a bit out of the picture too. She just put a little of colors to bring more depth in her art, mostly on the flowers and a bit in Cass’ hair, shadow and half-opened eyes. Then she signed and dated the drawing on the bottom of the page, before she started moving.

Cass had fallen asleep. Raps smiled at her, and brought the cover closer, cradling her comfortably on her couch, ready for a good night sleep. The artist wasn’t done yet. She took her drawing stuff back in its bag, and readied herself to get it back to the caravan. Outside, it was bright as day when the full moon revealed itself from behind a cloud. Raps let out a long yawn, and put a hand against the door’s leaf, ready to open it, only to stop when Cass stretched and yawned too, awaken by the silent rustle Raps made. Truly, she had a very light sleep.

“Hey,” she whispered with a sleepy voice, “what you got here? I’m looking good?”

Rapunzel giggled again, and sat down near her friend, getting the sketchbook out of the bag once again. Cassandra put an arm on her friend’s back, before laying her head on her shoulder, while her own hair was still ornated with the floral crown. The artist flipped the pages to the drawing of the night, and she could hear Cass hold her breath as she saw it.

“Do… You like it?” asked Rapunzel, unsure what she was supposed to think of the reaction.

Though she was more confident about this kind of drawings after each new one, Rapunzel still didn’t really know how to feel with them. She loved drawing Cassandra as much as she loved the woman herself, and that soothed her ever-working mind.

“If I like it? Come on, Raps, that’s beautiful! How in the world can you do such wonder with only a pencil? Whoa. I’m… Wait, I don’t have that much muscles, right?”

She checked on herself while saying that.

“You can say it’s a bit of artistic license… Well, not that much after all,” she said looking at her friend with a knowing grin. “You are the way I see you, Cass. Brave, charming, fearless, wonderful, full of love…”

Rapunzel couldn’t end her sentence. Cass had moved her face near hers and their foreheads were touching on the side. Both women let a small laugh fill the room, before closing the gap between them. Raps let the sketchbook gently fall on the floor, and went to hold Cass’ cheek and waist in her hands, as their lips locked.

When they parted, Cass took the book and gave the drawing a better look at the dim candlelight. It was a marvel of art, it was Rapunzel’s vision of who she was. She felt honored and proud to have such a great artist, a great friend with her. She laid again her head against Raps’ shoulder, but right now, the princess wasn’t up to getting her drawing stuff back to the caravan anyway. She let herself fall on her couch next to Cassandra’s, and brought her own cover to her shoulders.

“Good night, Cass,” she said with a loving smile.

“Good night, Raps,” her beloved answered with a quick peck on her cheeks.

And sleep welcomed them till the sunrise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it!  
> I tried to give the characters their rightful personality, so I hope I did good!
> 
> About the headcanon I imagine with this fic:  
> Well, lots have been said in the story itself ^^  
> I think the drawings are mostly before the Great Tree. After that, in love or not, I consider their relationship was seriously put at risk with the trust issues. So I don’t see them taking a date/drawing night, moreover with Cass over-protectiveness on her hand wound. Well, maybe on the contrary, the drawings of the hurt hand would help them get over the wound?  
> And fittingly, maybe the sketchbook of suggestive drawings would have helped them reconnect better and quicker in “Rapunzel: Day One”… I haven’t thought yet of the possible implications on the end of S02 and Zhan Tiri, so, let’s just forget that old demon for a while…  
> Guess I'll maybe write more on this headcanon… Who knows? ^^


	2. The Great Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set during and after the Great Tree episode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I found the drawing headcanon so interesting I thought I’d write at least two more chapters, those I thought of in the ending notes of what was supposed to be a one-shot…  
> First, there will be this chapter at the Great Tree, well more like its aftermath. Then, I’ll try a rewrite of “Rapunzel: Day One” with this drawing headcanon.  
> I’ll see if I continue afterward, at first I didn’t plan to write this far after all ^^’
> 
> This chapter is, Great Tree obliges, darker than the first.  
> Warning for wounds descriptions.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Wither and decay…”

“Rapunzel! Let me try, if I can reach the spear…”

It was too late. As the princess sang the incantation, there was a blackout. Cassandra couldn’t remember what happened, only that she stood up shouting for Rapunzel to stop and she was walking, no, running, toward her beloved friend. And then, her hand brought her back to reality, as a brutal pain scattered through her arm. The decay incantation… Her arm was decaying, and fast. In a reflex, the warrior pulled back. But the scream she had let escape brought Rapunzel back with her right then.

“Cassandra!”

The warrior wasn’t answering. She had collapsed and was half-conscious on the ground. Rapunzel gathered her strength to take her as she ran toward the exit. The tree was collapsing too. It was only a matter of seconds, yet, they managed to get out from this unstable ground.

When Cassandra woke up from this numbly nightmare, she was at Rapunzel’s side, and the Great Tree was disappearing in a deep and wide pit. Below, they could see Adira and Hector standing up, hurt yet alive, and leaving the area in the opposite direction from the expedition.

The Demanitus Spear had fallen near where Rapunzel had sang the incantation. When the ground had ended its turmoil, Cassandra went, limping, to take it. On her way back, she was holding on to the spear like a walking stick, and to her hand, injured, burnt. The others were waiting, recovering their breath after what had just happened. The swordswoman had little time to take one of the statue’s armor, and get dressed with it. She couldn’t let any weakness be seen. Not now that they were so closed to their goal. One could even see the heights of the Dark Kingdom, from what was the late Great Tree of Zhan Tiri.

When she went back to the group, still limping on the spear, Rapunzel put her sketchbook back in her bag and ran to her. She asked questions, many questions, yet deep inside, it was always the same.

“Do you want help, Cassandra? Let me help you.”

“I’m fine,” always repeated the broken swordswoman.

After a while, when they were back to the little fire that had been lighted, Rapunzel finally stepped away from her friend, very reluctantly. She went to sit near Eugene, who put an arm around her back, and brought her close, Pascal on her shoulder.

That night, they tried to sleep. Some could. Shorty, to not name him. Cassandra was laying on her side, back toward the fire, and Rapunzel kept her eyes on her. But she wasn’t looking at her with an artist glance anymore, nor a lover’s. Her eyes held the great dread she felt for her friend. Cassandra had always been so secretive. Weeks ago, she had finally managed to open up to the princess, to the one she had secretly loved for a long time. And now, she was closed once again. Her heart was closed once again.

Rapunzel sighed, and opened her bag. Against her back, Eugene had somehow managed to catch some sleep. In her bag, she looked and sighed. Which book? Since the island, and that night when she didn’t come back to the caravan, she kept her unofficial sketchbook with her, next to the official one. And that was a good thing, as the caravan was lost right now. Thank you Hector.

After a while of indecision, Rapunzel took her unofficial sketchbook. Pencil in hand, she sketched the silhouette of her friend in the dark. The light screeching of the pencil caught Cassandra’s attention, and she sighed, knowing what was happening. She tried to go back to sleep nonetheless. She wouldn’t be the perfect model tonight. She was the broken loving friend.

It was hard, to ignore Rapunzel that harshly. But Cassandra didn’t know what else could, hopefully, make her understand that being always the optimistic, the positive one, was sometimes what doomed them. If only she could have reached the spear before she started the incantation…

Cassandra curled herself up more than she already was. It was hard. For her and Rapunzel both. The princess was certainly only thinking that she had a bad day, that tomorrow, everything would come back as before, and all would have their happily ever after. But life, life wasn’t a fairy-tale, and Rapunzel oh so often forgot that, and it was for Cassandra to remind her that. Because of course, mister perfect boyfriend Eugene would always be on his lady’s side.

Well, it was hard to disagree with Rapunzel, Cassandra could well admit that. And that was dangerous, because her obliviousness toward what they found in their journey could very well doom them one day forever. Well, that day when they were turned into birds, if Shorty, Shorty! The most useless of them all! Who wasn’t even supposed to come! If he hadn’t been an egg-laying male peacock, they’d be all good to spend their lives as birds. And who would be to thank for that?

Cassandra sighed heavily. She didn’t want to put the guilt on Rapunzel. No, her beloved was too perfect to be guilty of anything. And yet…

She could still hear the pencil screech behind her. Was Rapunzel even drawing her? She could be drawing the whole campfire scenery, as she had done the first days after leaving Corona. Or she could be drawing Eugene, and get him a little surprise when he wakes up in the morning. Who could tell? Oh, damn, that journey had been quite irritating… Between Adira’s “I know a lot and tell nothing, just trust me”, rhino-riding psycho with wolverines Hector and that damned magical demonic Great Tree… Any normal person would be irritated.

Relax, Cassandra, find some sleep, you need it, relax… Easier said than done. Yet, when she closed her heavy eyes, she only opened them with the dawn.

The rest of the company was up, and when she started to uncurl herself to sit on the ground, her eyes found a welcoming hand in front of them. It was Rapunzel’s. She should’ve expected that. Cassandra gladly took the hand, and stood up. But she had used her injured hand, and she couldn’t hide the wince she made. Damn. Hide your weakness. You’re nearly the only capable warrior here. Hide your weakness! Don’t let them fall!

And, of course, Rapunzel saw her, and winced in response. She put a hand on Cassandra’s arm, as if to massage it a bit, to ease the pain, but with the armor, nothing could be done. And the princess was wise enough to understand the hard glare her friend did when she was about to get the gauntlet off.

“Let me help you,” her eyes were pleading.

“I’m fine,” Cassandra’s glare told her.

And so, to cut the silent discussion, the swordswoman pulled back her hand, swiftly, too swiftly to be gentle. She took the Demanitus Spear in her hand, helping her walk. She didn’t really need it, her legs were fine.

But the only sight of the spear reminded both her and Rapunzel of what had happened. Plus, it was a more than welcomed weapon in their journey. Really, who needed an old-school sword when you had an enchanted spear designed to fight what you were trying to find?

The walk toward the Dark Kingdom resumed soon.

At noon, they took a pause in a clearing. Cassandra was observing attentively her new weapon, when she heard once again that screeching sound near her. Usually, she wouldn’t have minded, she would even have encouraged these drawings of her. But today, after the Great Tree, no, that was enough. With a side-glance, she saw that Rapunzel was taking a whole page to drawn only her hand, well, her gauntlet covered hand, her wounded hand. And that, no, that was enough.

She stood up to walk around and sit elsewhere. Somehow, she thought she was waiting for Rapunzel to come join her, but no, the artist didn’t budge. She kept drawing, always and always, hiding her face behind drawings to not see the reality of the world just above her sketchbook.

Cassandra wanted to shout to her to stop drawing her hand. To draw something else. The trees, the grass, Pascal, the fire, the clouds, Eugene, anything but her hand! Anything but her wound.

It wasn’t a simple wound. It was a proof. Proof of her not being trusted. And she hadn’t been trusted by her best friend and lover. Rapunzel couldn’t possibly just take a pencil and her sketchbook and do as if nothing had happened. As a symbol of that frail trust, Cassandra refused Rapunzel to draw it.

Yet, the artist persevered. She was drawing the gauntlet, as she couldn’t see the wound. She was detailing the ancients carvings as much as possible, and the way she did it, it was impossible to not think her only thought was to take the gauntlet away.

Cassandra would never let her see the wound. Yet, would she allow herself to see her own wound? She had to, maybe it was too compressed, more hurt, maybe she was starting an infection. She didn’t feel any pain, but with the unknown powers of the decay incantation, who could tell if that was good news or bad news? One day, she would have to take the gauntlet off. And that day, she would make sure Rapunzel couldn’t see her.

Yet, when the day came, Rapunzel was here. They were near a river, cleaning the few things they still had with them. They would have to find another way to journey, not having a caravan was starting to really be difficult. They could take a day, chop wood, and make a jury-rigged carriage. But that could slow them down. And the main goal was very different. They had to reach the Dark Kingdom.

So, that day, they were at the river's side, and Cassandra had finally taken off parts of her armor. She would never openly admit it, but it felt good to not have this weight all the time on her back, shoulders and legs. Walking was easier. Sparring was easier.

Yet, there was one part she didn’t take off. The gauntlet. She was dreading the moment she’d take it away. How would her hand look? Would it have healed? Would it be the same she saw during not even a second at the Great Tree? Would it be more decayed, and she wouldn’t even have felt it? Right now, she dreaded the sight of her own hand more that she dreaded Rapunzel drawing it.

She walked a bit away from the others, to hide behind a rock on the shore. She wanted to breath calmly, steadily, but couldn’t. How would that damn wound look? It she took away the gauntlet, for what little she knew of the magic in the incantation, her hand could perfectly crumble like sand or goo. Or it could not be that nightmarish, and her hand would still be right, at least a little. Argh! Not knowing, dreading the wound…

She had to take off the gauntlet. Now or never, or she might not be able to do it at another time.

Cassandra took a deep breath, and put her other hand around the gauntlet. She didn’t feel any pain under the armor. Good sign. Perhaps. She unlocked the little leather clasp by her wrist and proceeded to take the metal protection off.

She stopped. A light rustle arrived from behind. It came, approached, and leaped above the rock. She turned to see, it was a rabbit. She breathed, reassured, and the little one noticed her and fled, only to be chased by Owl. Guess they knew what their next meal would be.

When Cassandra looked back at her hand, she gasped. How and when did Rapunzel arrived to sit on a nearby stone? No, she was dreaming. It had to be a dream, she hadn’t heard her arrive. And… it wasn’t a dream. Rapunzel stood up and went to her friend. She had nothing with her, as it seemed. Only her ever-loving smile that was quite unsettling right now.

“I know you don’t want me right now,” she said, not waiting for Cassandra to speak. “I know you certainly want me to back off, to leave you alone. But I’ll stay. I won’t touch your hand if you don’t want me to. But we shouldn’t let it divide us. I miss my friend, Cassandra. I miss the one I love tenderly. Please. Let me help. Tell me how I can help.”

“Let me do as I want,” the swordswoman answered, with a gesture to tell her to sit down on the rock again.

As Rapunzel sat again, Cassandra looked once more her gauntlet. There was no turning back. She took in her other hand the cold metal pieces and pulled gently, waiting for whatever pain that could tell her she still had a hand to spread through her arm. Still, she felt nothing. She held her breath, unsure of what that could mean. Centimeter after centimeter, the gauntlet at last fell on the ground with a thump.

And the hand was revealed.

The skin was awfully hurt, and blackened, and it looked like a wide wound that would have been covered in coal before it could even scar. But it wasn’t that, they knew it. Cassandra knelt to put her hand in the running and leaping water of the river. Water didn’t even wash the coal-like skin, and Rapunzel could swear she could see Cassandra’s veins pulsing, struggling to keep the hand alive. Yes, the hand was still alive, but who could tell for how long?

They both looked to the injured skin, from up close. Cassandra sat near Rapunzel, and put her now wet hand at their eyes level. With the sun’s light, it was as if the skin reflected a bit of blue sparks, small as grains of sand.

As the minutes passed, a nice warm came from behind. The guys had started a fire. Well, it seemed Owl had caught the rabbit, unsurprisingly.

Cassandra started to shiver. With the night coming, a cold wind was slowly rising. Noticing, Rapunzel brought close the different parts of the armor that were around them. But as Cass was about to put the gauntlet back, the princess stopped her. She had put her hand on her friend’s injured wrist, and was massaging it, as she had intended before. With one hand, she held the wrist, while her other hand searched behind the rock she was sat on. And she brought to her lap her sketchbook and a pencil. Cassandra sighed again, but her will to rebel was low, now that she felt at peace, her wound tended to and the pain of mistrust that ached in her heart slowly backing off.

As Raps put her pencil back on the paper, the soothing screech came back. She only had taken her lead pencil, no color one. Yet, she thought, with the mist of blue shining on the wound, that she should have. She didn’t mind after all. Colors weren’t that necessary right now. Most of all, she needed to make sure her drawing, yes, drawing not sketch, would help her friend.

She missed their talks at night, those silly talks one would start with a thought, and that would keep them awake for no reason. She missed the closeness they had shared all that time when she was drawing her nearly everyday, and every nights.

She had failed her friend at the Great Tree, she knew it. Could she admit it? For a moment, she understood how Cass felt all this time hiding her feelings, knowing she should share them, and yet, keeping them hidden deep down.

And today, the swordswoman let her do as it pleased her. She was done telling her to back off of her wound. Frankly, the hand could have been worse. She couldn’t remember what exactly had happened at the Great Tree, her mind was clouded by all that was happening all of a sudden. There had been Hector, possessed or so, all their friends, and her too, nearly giving up their last breath, and Rapunzel, alone among them all, with the cursed incantation. Cassandra didn’t know how to react when she thought of that. And she had thought of that a lot during these last days. Could she really have had the time to catch the spear? If Rapunzel had let her do with that plan, what could have happened? There was no one to tell what the spear coming in contact with the demonic vines would have done to the bearer of said spear. Maybe it was all for the better after all.

The screeching stopped as a shadow shaded them from above. Rapunzel was the first to turn her head up and see Eugene, handing them hot rabbit meat on sticks. Cassandra took the two portions he had, while her artist friend hastily closed the unofficial sketchbook. They took a bite of the meat. They both needed that. With all that struggle around the hand wound, they didn’t really had a proper meal since before the Great Tree. The way they devoured all the food on the sticks, Eugene couldn’t help but think something was off.

Yet, he could tell when he wasn’t needed, even though it was really, really difficult for someone as talkative as he ever was. And that was one of those times. He fought the urge to ask the girls what all the secrecy was about, understanding that the only possible explanation stood in two words. Great Tree. He knew that wasn’t a talk he was invited to.

There, in the chamber with the incantations, where he and Lance had fallen after being drugged by that giant flower, he had seen them when the decay incantation had stopped. He had seen their looks, the way Cassandra, whom he so liked to despise, held Rapunzel in her arms and was looking at her. It was a look he knew perfectly, as he himself had the same when his lady was doing something too reckless. It was love, melted by a sting of dread. Questions were rushing, and he had no answer, only silence.

Before going back to the others by the fire, he tried to say a word or two, the polite kind of words, to start a conversation. Well, that turned out to be a very short conversation. Quite confused and lost in his thoughts, he left the two of them at what they were doing. Yet, at the fire, he sat a bit away from where he was at first, and watched them intently as he ate his dinner. He wasn’t spying. He didn’t think of it that way, he couldn’t. No, he just, tried to know better those he thought he knew for a long time.

When at last, he was far enough, Rapunzel looked at her drawing. She didn’t remember crying, yet, the paper was wet of salty tears. By her side, Cassandra looked too, but not the paper. Her beloved friend whom she had put aside these last days.

“I’m sorry, Raps,” she said, and it was her tears that fell on the book.

“Cass… don’t be. I… I was the one who should’ve let you try. You were trying to protect us. All of us. And we did good.”

The swordswoman humphed.

“You did good,” she corrected. “I did nothing. You were right. It was the incantation that saved us.”

“No, we did it all of us. If you hadn’t put me out of that trance, I… Who knows? I could have died. It’s not called the decay incantation for nothing. Even if I harnessed its power, maybe I was decaying too.”

“Not as much as my hand,” sighed Cassandra. “Listen, we all have done things we regret. Just… Promise me you’ll listen to me. Please. More often…”

“Cass… I know you say that because of Adira, but…”

“No, I’m not saying that because of her. Well, yes, in a way, because I still don’t trust her. But I’m saying that for the both of us. During all those days when you were drawing me, I trusted you. During all those times when we almost died, I trusted you, Raps. But it has to be reciprocal. And if it’s not, we’re going to crash somewhere, and we’ll be lost. Because you know I love you, and I know you love me. We can’t love each other if we don’t trust each other, right?”

“Well, not exactly…”

“That’s my point. I trust you, and you have to trust me too. Please. For us. For you. Trust me.”

“You know I trust you, Cass.”

To prove her point, Rapunzel put her arm on her beloved’s back, and her hairy head on her shoulder.

“That… wasn’t exactly what I meant, but, well, it’s a start,” said Cassandra with a smile, her wounded hand going to take the sketchbook.

She turned the pages to the day’s drawing. It was still unfinished, yet, the intention was here. That hand, so hurt, so injured, it was like getting out of the paper, and it could have, was the real hand not the one to hold the book. The drawing wasn’t an ugly one, far from it. You could see it was a wound, a very bad one even, and yet, looking at it, you couldn’t feel pain, you could only feel relief. Relief that the pain was finally out. Relief that you didn’t have to hide anymore. Relief that you had friends, and lovers to help you live with that wound. Relief that you weren’t alone anymore.

“I still don’t understand how you can draw awful things like that and manage to make them beautiful.”

“It’s because I choose to only see how beautiful things are. It’s a matter of perspective. Silent the ugliness, and all will be beautiful, Cass, like your hand. It’s beautiful in its own way, like a flower is beautiful, or a frog, or a cloud, or the moon. Your hand is beautiful. You are beautiful. And when your loved ones are beautiful…”

“The world is beautiful?” tried Cass.

“Yes. When you’re in it, it is more than ever.”

Rapunzel took the sketchbook and her pencil, and added few details more, before tearing up the page. Cass gasped, she had never seen her friend do such things with her art. But, she calmed down when Raps folded the paper and slipped it in the gauntlet of the hurt hand. It would stay with her forever.

The sun was setting low behind the western hills. They had fallen asleep one against the other, cradled together against the stone. And yet, though the stone was hard and cold, it could do nothing against the warmth and protection they found within each other.

After a while, Eugene went to them, to ask them to come by the fire so they wouldn’t be cold at dawn. He couldn’t wake them up. Not with Pascal who went from his shoulder to stand on the stone to tell him to stop. The chameleon, with all his goodwill, couldn’t stop the man, and his eyes found the still opened book fallen in the grass.

And if the feeling of incomprehension and yet acceptance had a face, it was the two-facets face he bore that night until dawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, here, they kept the Demanitus Spear. And Eugene starts to really suspects something is up... Poor guy, the girls won't talk to him... Well, miscommunication was an issue in the series too, so that's kind of canon ^^
> 
> See you in the next update with a "Rapunzel: Day One" chapter!


	3. Day one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rewrite of "Rapunzel: Day One"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and comments!
> 
> This chapter takes place right after the last one at the Great Tree. For the sake of staying in canon, Hook Foot left in between, either before the Great Tree as he wasn’t cited there, or somehow during the night. Frankly, it’s not that important.  
> In this chapter, there will be lots of dialogues, introspection, and way less drawings. This chapter is more about how our characters handle their relationships together…
> 
> It wasn’t quite easy to write, and decide which character(s) would have their memory erased. Yet I needed the confrontations you’ll read, even if that made our not so communicative characters a bit, well, out-of-characters. So, I’m not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but hey, still got a lot to practice on writing, so here goes nothing!
> 
> Have a nice time reading!

At dawn, the sun rising woke up the group. A gentle breeze came from the south as they gathered their stuff.

The black rocks were scarce where they were. They followed the river. From what they knew, it was the same river that they had encountered before the Great Tree.

They walked two hours before stopping, finding a painted plank on the river’s side. It was unmistakable, that plank was from the caravan. But where was it? Lance was the first to find one of the halves, while Cassandra uncovered the second half from a pile of fallen leaves certainly dredged during its journey in the river.

Together minus Shorty, they managed to get the two parts next to the other. The two halves were still on their side, but well, they weren’t at meters away from the other. They tried to put them back together. Maximus and Fidella pulled while their humans tried to lift up the caravan. Even with the many holes of missing planks, the job was a hard one, as both halves were unbalanced and couldn’t stay up for long. At last, they managed to get them to stay as they should stay by putting fallen trunks and branches around… But all could tell that had to be temporary and they had to find better new wood supplies.

Rapunzel volunteered, always ready to help with her contagious enthusiasm. When Owl came hooting something on her shoulder, Cassandra joined her.

“There’s something up there,” she said, pointing where the bird of prey came from. “Hopefully we’ll find what we’re looking for.”

Just before they went too far, Eugene proposed himself to join them, so they could carry as many supplies as possible. Cassandra grumbled in a whisper, yet agreed, as Rapunzel had already accepted the proposition.

They left Lance and the horses, with Pascal and Owl, to take care of Shorty. He was currently sleeping, but they knew better than to be fooled by this passive state.

The trio went for the direction Owl had pointed them to. As they walked, they crossed a river, a lot of forest and at last, they arrived to an abandoned campsite. An owl’s speed was was faster than theirs it seemed.

There were a lot of carts, broken for most, laying on their side or missing one or two of their wheels. But most importantly, the insignias on them all were Saporian. Well, even on their journey the rebels were presents. Great. At least, there was no one at the campsite at first sight. It would seem this place had held a battle not that long ago. Good thing that hadn’t met the belligerents.

They scattered to bring half planks and old nails that could be useful for their own caravan, and put them all in a pile in the middle of the campsite. There, there was an old apothecary cart, that still had ointments, medicines out of its many opened drawers. In one of them, Rapunzel found a wand next to several books.

She called her two beloved to come over and take a break, they all had been there searching and gathering planks for hours now. They fiddled with things found there, nothing more, just passing a little time without carrying wood. With the wand she found, Rapunzel read the little blue book that was accompanying it. It was a Saporian memory wand, a magical device that could, as the name said it, erase memories of whoever was near it, except its bearer. As she was turning it around, inspecting as one would inspect any new and intriguing artifact, she got an entertaining idea.

Rapunzel turned to the others, and tipped the extremity of the wand on a plank next to her.

“Oh, a memory wand. I wonder if it works.”

She did it again.

“Oh, a memory wand. I wonder if it works.”

She waited a second or two. She did it again.

“Oh, a memory wand. I wonder if it works.”

Cassandra and Eugene exchanged a worried look.

“Gotcha! Ha!”

Rapunzel filled the awkward silence with her cheerful laugh, as her two beloved watched her with matching unamused expressions.

“Oh come on, that was fun!… You won’t leave your serious faces… Right…”

She stood up and turned around them, still both sat on a log. She walked on tiptoes, and, out of nowhere, she attacked them from behind. Tickles. They both lost right then their serious faces.

Eugene was the first to yield and laugh openhearted, tickling Rapunzel back. Yet, his face went sterner when he saw how Cassandra was as well melting into the more than just friendly touch. The women only stopped after few minutes, when they ran out of air. The swordswoman was the first to notice the change in Eugene’s expression.

“What Eugene?” she asked, still catching her breath. “Can’t a girl have a bit of fun now and then? Oh, no, that’s right, I forgot. I’m the one who can’t.”

“Cass, don’t taunt him,” said Rapunzel. “Everyone deserves some fun. Right, Eugene? Eugene?”

“Yeah… Everyone… I’m sorry… Lost in thoughts…”

“You got something on your mind?” asked Rapunzel.

“Well, kind of… Ladies… Are we being honest with each other?”

“Not in the slightest.”

“Cass!”

“What? Raps, let me remind you something… I’m the one who wanted us to stay discreet, while you weren’t so sure. For what we know, we may very well be at the end of our journey. Plus, remember what I told you last night?”

“Yeah… Trust…” said Rapunzel while idly fiddling with the wand.

“Can somebody explain clearly what you guys are talking about?” asked a very unknowing Eugene, though he had his idea of where this was going.

“Please, Raps, we need to focus, and you’re in it with us,” said Cass, gently taking the wand from Rapunzel’s hands.

“So, what is going on?”

“You know what, Fitzherbert? I’m just going to say it, and you’re going to do whatever you want with this information.”

“Right…”

Cassandra took a deep breath, and looked at Rapunzel for a second. Well, it was now or never. Alea jacta est as the old saying says.

“I'm in love with Rapunzel and I have been for a long time. That’s it. You’re not alone, Fitzherbert.”

Silence fell for few seconds before Eugene spoke again.

“What? That was it? The big secret? I mean, the looks you shared, and, well, how do I put it? Yesterday, I realized. I saw your other drawing book, Sunshine, and I knew.”

“So why do you even bother asking!?” bluntly asked Cassandra.

Clearly she hadn’t found his little detective game funny at all.

“Because I’m not so impetuous…”

That earned him a loud humph from the swordswoman.

“And I mean, that’s the kind of thing I should know, right, Blondie?”

“Yeah, maybe,” said Rapunzel, now fiddling with a lock of her hair. “I, we tried to talk to you, Eugene, but…”

“But you’re not exactly the most trustworthy with secrets,” finally said Cassandra.

“What? How dare you? I can keep secrets, thank you very much. And even, why did you want you two to stay hidden, Cassandra?” he asked, without his usual despising accent.

“Isn’t it obvious enough?” she said, nearly exploding. “This journey is my trial! Everyone in Corona is waiting for me to make only one mistake so they have a good reason to throw me away, and refuse me a place in the guards! Or even in the castle! Making out with the princess when she already has someone in her life is exactly one of said mistakes! Dammit! Oh, and you know what?! I’m fed up with you, Fitzherbert! I wish you could just forget all of this!”

No one answered that. Much to Cassandra’s surprise in fact. She expected Eugene, as usual, to retort, or Rapunzel, to try to explain as well. But they were unwontedly quiet.

“Guys? Care to say a word?” she asked, looking for any reaction.

“I… Where are we?”

Eugene had been the first to react.

“We’re… In a forest, looking for planks,” explained Cassandra, already tired of the guy, and trying to use his question to divert the conversation.

“Who are you people!? How… How did I leave my tower? I have to get back!” shouted Rapunzel before any other could say anything else.

“Your… tower,” repeated Eugene. “Excuse me, do I know you?”

“Guys! Please! What do you think you’re doing? We don’t have time for tricks. Whatever you think you’re playing, quit it immediately,” ordered Cassandra. “I know I told things I shouldn’t have said, but what is done is done. We can’t turn back. Are you done yet?”

“Hey there, calm down, dragon lady,” said Eugene. “You got a name?”

“A name? Fitzherbert, quit playing with my nerves!”

“Woah, what!? How do you know my name? Who told you? Lance? No, haven’t seen him in years… Stabbingtons! Has to be them! You know them? You’re on their side? Where are they?”

“I’m… I’m on no one’s side, so please, calm down… Both of you!”

That stopped Rapunzel, who was looking around, intrigued by everything around them. She went back to the log she was previously sitting on and watched inquisitively the wand in Cassandra’s hand.

“What is that thing?” she asked.

“That’s a… oh damn, no… Don’t tell me that… Ok, right, calm down… Guys, what is the last thing you remember?”

“The last thing?” started Eugene, laying his back on the log, and stretching his legs on the wood. “Well, I was running with my satchel in hand, swiftly evading the guards, and, you know, usual Flynn Rider things. Hey, I’m Flynn Rider.”

To end his sentence, he half-closed one eye and his lips did a weird side-pouting smile. Cassandra immediately facepalmed while Rapunzel looked oddly at him.

“The smolder never failed me before…” he noticed. “Am I doing this right?”

He tried his trademarked smolder again, not acquiring any better reaction from the ladies. Rapunzel only brought closer to her a, how did it get here, rusty frying pan. Eugene twisted his face in several expressions always going back to his not so trustful smolder. It took all his attention. So much he didn’t realized his highly grimacing face got him a frying pan punch.

“Whaaaaaaaat? Rapunzel! What have you done?! He’s a pain in the rear, right, but that’s no reason to stun him like that!” exploded Cassandra.

“… How do you know my name?” suddenly asked the other woman, keeping the distance between her and Cass with the frying pan.

“Right… Memory wand,” whispered to herself the swordswoman. “Rapunzel,” she said, “I’m a friend. And I know your name because you told me. Don’t you remember?”

“I don’t. Get me back to my tower. I won’t ask it twice.”

“I know. You can be really persuasive when you want to,” she reminded both herself and Rapunzel, before choosing to play her game. “Well, we’re going to the tower, don’t worry, we just have few things to set before going. It’s a long trip, and I wouldn’t you to go unprepared. You’re okay with that, Raps?”

“I guess so… I like the nickname.”

“Who knocked me out?” shouted Eugene, getting up in a hurry.

“Yourself,” said Cassandra. “Now, it’s kind of late, we all need a good night sleep. I’ll stay up to guard the camp. You two get some rest. We’ll discuss the journey in the morning. Good night.”

On that, she stood up, and walked around, while the two others searched the area for what could pass for a blanket of sort. There was none. Eugene, used to sleeping on the road, fell asleep quickly, directly on a patch of grass. But for Rapunzel, who thought she had never gotten out of her tower, it was all different.

The noises of the forest, the lights of the stars, all was so unknown and frightening, she couldn’t sleep. She stayed sat for a while, but couldn’t find any rest. So, she went to walk, finally getting close to Cassandra, who was reading the little blue book that went with the wand. Maybe there was some antidote in it, and Cass damn well intended to find it.

Rapunzel sat on the log next to Cassandra, and that startled the swordswoman, who hadn’t heard her arrive.

“How did I get here?” asked Rapunzel in an unusual shy voice.

“How? That’s a long story, Raps… I wish I knew.”

“It was the ruffians, right? It has to be them.”

“The ruffians?”

“Mother always told me to look out for them. And snakes, quicksand, men with pointy teeth, the plague, and everything.”

“She’s got a point. Ruffians can be pretty good at what they do, and what they do is bad. Now, why don’t you go back to sleep? It’s been a long day.”

“I can’t sleep. I’ve never slept out of my tower. I think I’m scared.”

“It’s normal to be scared by something you can’t control. I am scared too, sometimes.”

“You don’t look like you could be scared of anything.”

“Thanks… I guess. Say, Raps, you see that bag you have?”

Cassandra showed her the blue painted bag her friend and lover always kept with her. It seemed she hadn’t noticed it after having her memory erased. The swordswoman counted on the bag and what was in it to hopefully help her recover some memories, while waiting for a definitive antidote.

“I don’t recognize it,” said Rapunzel. “But I recognize my painting… How can it be?”

“As I said, long story. I take it you believe in magic?”

“What makes you say that?” asked Rapunzel, taken aback and suddenly standing up.

“Calm down, I’m a friend,” said Cassandra, standing up too and walking toward her friend with welcoming hands and smile.

“Don’t come closer! I’m warning you!”

The frying pan had somehow found its way back to Rapunzel’s hand, and she was menacing Cassandra with it. The swordswoman regretted immediately speaking of magic. She thought she could try to explain the memory loss, but no doubt Rapunzel had thought she was after the magic in her seventy feet of hair.

“Rapunzel, I’m here to help, just let me explain.”

“No. You’re only after my magic!”

She ran. Cassandra had seen nothing happen. In the matter of few seconds, Rapunzel was far away. Damn.

Well, that went, not so well… Cassandra cursed herself for that, but there was no time. They were a long way away from the tower, that was a good thing as Rapunzel couldn’t possibly get there to see the ruins, so they had all their chances to find her before anything terrible happens. And by they, the swordswoman already despised the idea, but she would have to get some help from Eugene. And find how to undo the spell… Well, spell first. She didn’t want to deal with the spell and no-memory Eugene at the same time. No one would.

She took the instruction book that was with the wand. The spell could usually wear off with time, but they didn’t have that time. It said it needed some potion to help the victims of the spell to recover their memories. Or, plan B, the persons missing memory would need to find once again a strong emotional anchor from the missing memories to regain them. But that last solution could only work if the anchor hadn’t suffered any memory loss or said anchor would be unstable. Tricky, but doable. Magic… Cassandra sighed at all these requirements.

Both antidotes could work on Rapunzel, as she deeply cared for Cassandra, and that made the swordswoman smile, thinking of those great times they had together. But Eugene, that would be way more complicated. His emotional anchor would certainly be Rapunzel, but she had too lost her memory. So, it could not work. Well, only potion then. The ingredients list wasn’t that long, and hopefully, the plants and elements needed were local. One could even say it felt even more like a good old diner soup than a magical potion.

Cassandra started to gather the ingredients with the plants and tree sap around the campsite. A rusty old cauldron left there received the potion parts as she started a fire underneath it. Then, as the whole thing gently boiled, she went to wake up Eugene. Good thing the instruction book said the potion shouldn’t rest long before being drank. He woke up grumbling, the memory loss hadn’t change that at all.

“What happens? Are we under attack?” he asked in a yawn.

“Not yet,” answered Cassandra, “but I fear I need you, Fitzherbert. Hurry up, our friend is off to who knows where and we have to find her.”

“Our friend? Ah, yes, you mean that golden haired lady? Yeah, right. You know who she is?”

“I do, so do you,” she reminded him. “Just, please, I made a soup so we don’t go search for her with empty stomachs. It’ll do you good.”

“I can smell it from here! You don’t look the chef part, ma’am, but I’m sure that’s as good as it smells!”

He took a wooden bowl falling from a nearby cart and took some “soup”. Cassandra watched as he drank the whole thing, and waited till some effect happens. At worst, if the potion wasn’t the right one, Rapunzel wouldn’t have been the one to drink it.

“Argh, what is that soup?! It really doesn’t taste as well as it smells… Yuck!”

“Spices are difficult to find here,” said Cassandra as an excuse for the taste, though she clearly didn’t care about it. “Feel any different, Fitzherbert?”

“When will you tell me how you know my name, Cassandra? Wait… What happened? Where’s Rapunzel?”

“What do you remember?”

“We were here, we were talking and, I don’t know, feels strange, I’m sure I was running from the castle like the day I met Rapunzel, but you know, just minutes ago from now.”

“Memory wand,” the swordswoman explained, showing the artifact. “Come on, we need to find Raps, she’s still under the spell. She doesn’t remember you, and I don’t think she’ll want to trust me.”

“Oh? How so?” asked Eugene, a bit mocker.

“I tried to help her remember who she was, and when I talked about magic, she fled. I think she feared for her hair.”

“I see… Good thing she hadn’t tried to heal your hand as she did mine though,” noticed Eugene.

“And why is that?” genuinely asked Cassandra.

“Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but her hair doesn’t heal anymore… She could’ve thought you’d somehow stole her magic. And… I don’t know… gone feral or fled faster, or who knows.”

“Oh right. Damn it.”

“Err… Cassandra, before we go, can I talk to you for a second?”

At these words, Cassandra’s whole body stiffened. She was ready to go, and couldn’t turn around to face Eugene. She lowered her head and closed her fists, waiting for him to say anything.

“I remember the talk we had. Before the spell. And I’m sorry if my questions made you lose your nerves. I guess, I’m so used to annoy you, it’s the only thing I manage to do even when I try to be helpful.”

Turning around to face him, she humphed loudly.

“You think you’ve been helpful, Eugene? Let me tell you, you weren’t.”

“Is that so? You would have preferred I confronted you and Rapunzel at the caravan when the others are here? It doesn’t concern them, only us three.”

“Us three? Well, see where that leads us. Raps’ on the run now. And all she thinks about is to protect her magical now not healing hair and going back to the tower. She doesn’t even remember it’s in ruins!”

“Cass, what I’m trying to say is that you don’t have to hide from me.”

“I don’t care-… Wait, what?”

Her tone was surprised. She didn’t expect that.

“Yes, don’t hide from me. I mean, I guess I should be a bit jealous of you, but, you know what? I can’t. You’re at peace when you’re with Rapunzel. And she’s at peace too. I want what’s best for her. And if what’s best for her is for you to be with her, so be it.”

“You’re not seriously thinking that, Fitzherbert?”

“I am. Since we left Corona, I’ve thought a lot on the parts each of us have to play for each other, for the kingdom. To all who knew me before I met Rapunzel, I’m a rogue, a thief. A joker for some. Not that I can blame them. Well, I was a nobody. If I hadn’t found the tower, and Rapunzel, I’d still be that. Or I’d be dead. Or close to be. And you, you’d be training for the guards. Maybe you’d be on the guards actually. That was your goal, your dream. But you would never have met Rapunzel.”

“I wouldn’t be missing her then,” whispered to herself the swordswoman, though Eugene heard her.

“Well, in a way, you would certainly have been trained to find the still lost princess, so… Maybe you’d miss her one way or another. Just saying.”

“And where are you going with that thought?” asked Cassandra, shoving away a rogue tear from her cheek.

“What I’m trying to say is that, I deeply love Rapunzel, she’s my sunshine, my dream. But, maybe I’m not the one who should be with her. Have you ever seen a once condemned man on a throne? If it weren’t for Maximus, I was good to be hanged. When Rapunzel will become queen, I could be king. Imagine that. The guy who stole the princess’ crown crowned king! Ironic, right? While you, you’ve been at the castle nearly your whole life. The people know you. They trust you.”

That earned him rolling eyes from Cassandra.

“Well, most of them trust you more than they trust me,” corrected Eugene. “Having two queens isn’t maybe that common, but at least, you don’t have criminal records behind you.”

“That’s… Actually kind of you to think of all that. But you know, even if you let me your place, Raps would never let you in the shadows anyway.”

“I know. I’m not counting on her to do that. But, we have to see all that through. For Rapunzel, for us, for Corona… I feel like my in-laws saying that. At least if they end up as my in-laws and not yours. Weird,” he said in a laugh.

“Weird, yeah. How many times have you practiced that speech?”

“More than I can recall. But what I said, I mean it. Each and every word. Now, why don’t we go find our lost princess?”

Rapunzel was running. To where? She didn’t know. That woman who claimed to be her friend had talked of magic. She knew for her hair. Rapunzel couldn’t let it fall into bad hands. No, Mother would be furious. Which way would lead to the tower? Where was she right now?

She climbed a tree, aided by her hair as safety rope, and looked at the stars. She was far away from the tower. How did that happened?

She needed to focus, find a way home. That would be a big journey. She had to do it. Mother would be furious. But maybe, seeing how she managed to get back home on her own, maybe she would let her finally see the lights… It was a risk worth taking. She had to go back.

Her feet hurt. The ground was covered in pine needles and broken branches. She had to pause her errand. So, she climbed in another tree and settled herself cozily in a wide cushion of her hair, as she sometimes liked to do in her tower’s framework. Around her, the wind was chanting in the leaves. She had never heard the sound that close before. It was charming and terrifying all at once.

A weight on her side reminded her of the bag she was still carrying. She curiously went to watch it in the light of the stars above. She didn’t recognize the bag itself, but the paintings on it were unmistakably hers. She opened it. Inside were two books, one with paintings on the covers, the other virgin of any exterior decoration. A set of used pencils were in a side pocket too, and that was all.

Away, she could hear voices, the voices of the two persons she had found herself with just few hours ago. What did they want with her? She shivered at the only idea of disappointing Mother, and coming back at the tower without her hair, or not coming back at all.

The sketchbook without decoration intrigued her. She opened it and gasped. Then again, it was her art-style, there was no mistake possible about it. But the subject of the drawings, it couldn’t be. It was the woman she had ran away from. There she was, posing sat on the ground or a log, laying on her side or just standing up proud. And, in very odd clothes, to say the least. No dress, only a tunic, a fabric made armor. Sometimes, even no clothing at all.

Even on the run from these people she didn’t know, Rapunzel couldn’t see the drawings with another look than a look of admiration, and, was it love? Odd, it was an emotion she couldn’t remember feeling. At least, not from Mother.

How could she have been drawing things she couldn’t remember? There was a smile in those drawings, a smile that seemed very familiar deep inside but she couldn’t bare to see it. She didn’t know those people. How could she have drawn them? The art-style, it couldn’t be someone else. Could the woman had said true? Could she be her friend? Could they have been more than friends if the drawings were saying true?

She heard their voices again. They were coming closer. Should she get down the tree and trust them? But they never clearly said they’d bring her back to the tower. Yet, she hadn’t seen any weapon with them, well, except for the woman’s sword and dagger that is. So, they were armed after all.

Rapunzel started to get down, slowly, evaluating the danger coming her way. Staying in the high branches, she could have an advantage, but her always unbraided long hair could easily get stuck.

“Rapunzel! There you are!” shouted a male voice coming her way. “Please, don’t run, we’re here to talk to you. Right, Cass?”

“Absolutely. Raps, stand down, please. We can do this the easy way.”

“There won’t be no other way,” precised the man.

“What do you want with me?” asked Rapunzel, coming down on the ground with her trustful frying pan in hands.

“We want to get you back where you belong.”

“Eugene’s right,” said the woman -Cass, it was? Yes, Cassandra. “Trust us, we are here to help you, nothing else.”

“And then what?”

“Then, you’ll see yourself, Sunshine” said Eugene.

“I don’t know you… But you know me…” she said. “And I have drawings of you in my bag… Drawings I did for sure, but don’t remember doing… What did you do to me?”

“Raps, please, don’t go away. We need you,” said Cassandra, walking toward Rapunzel. “We love you, and we need you to come with us. Please. We’ll explain everything.”

“You… Love me? No, Mother told me people would lie to get me to them. I don’t trust you. Stay away from me!”

“Damn! Raps, you’re not making it easy!” cursed Cassandra, nearly getting the sword on her back with great frustration.

She stopped her move just in time. Intimidation wasn’t an option when trying to talk through to your friends and lover. Even if they don’t remember you.

“Blondie, we’re really trying to help you here. And, your Mother, how do I put it? Maybe she only knows bad people and not the good ones. She doesn’t know us. We’re the good guys here.”

“How can I know that? Prove it, if you’re the good guys,” the then again lost princess told them.

“You want proofs?” said Cassandra, once again of a more friendly tone. “Just look into your bag. Look at those drawings you made. We love you, Raps, and deep inside, you know you love us too. We know you feel it too. Please, stay with us.”

“I don’t know… It’s… All unclear…”

“To make it clearer, please, you can drink that,” said Eugene, coming to her with the bowl half-full of the antidote.

“What is this?” Rapunzel asked, even more unsure than before.

“It’s a way to remember us, if you can’t by yourself,” explained Cassandra, more relaxed and walking to get by her right side. “Do you want it, or do you think you can do it by yourself?”

“I… don’t know.”

Cassandra was now close to her, nearly shoulder to shoulder, as was Eugene on her left side. Rapunzel was sure she should feel oppressed by them both against her like this, but no, it felt somehow normal.

“And… what do you know then?” asked Cassandra, looking for any bit of recovered memory.

“I know… I know you only want me to be happy and alright” she said turning around to face them. “I know I can trust you. I know who you are… Thank you, Cass, Eugene… What would I do without you?”

“What would each of us do without the others?” corrected Eugene, arms extended toward her.

“We’d be lost,” Rapunzel answered, embracing them both in her arms.

She laid her head on both their shoulders, and they returned the embrace. But Rapunzel felt something was off. She had never hugged them both at the same time. Well, once or twice, but this time, it was different, she felt it in the ways they were holding on to her. She raised her head to see them both, and they were smiling, of very fond smiles, truly happy, the happier she could remember right now. That warmed her heart, and she smiled back at them.

“What did I miss?” she asked her two beloved.

“Eugene and I had a talk while you were on the run,” explained Cassandra, massaging Rapunzel’s arm under her hand.

“A talk?” repeated Rapunzel. “Yes… I remember… Cass, you confessed, and then, the wand…”

“Yeah, I’m still that impulsive,” the swordswoman admitted in a shrug.

“Sunshine, I can tell you this,” said Eugene, “I’m always supporting you, no matter the odds, no matter what the people think. If you’re happy, then I am too.”

“But, Eugene, you said once I was your dream…”

“Your dream may evolve, but mine is still you. I won’t turn my back on you, Rapunzel. My dream is for you to be happy, to be yourself.”

“Eugene, you don’t have to make those sacrifices for me…” Rapunzel told him, leaning her head on his chest, still holding both her beloveds in her arms.

“I’m not making any sacrifice. I’d be if I took you away from Cassandra. I’d be sacrificing your happiness. And I don’t want that.”

“I have to admit,” said Cassandra, “I always disliked you, Fitzherbert. Jealousy, one could say. But now, I think I really get why Rapunzel is lucky to have you.”

“And so she is to have you, Cass,” Eugene replied.

“Oh stop it,” said Rapunzel, giggling lightly.

“Well, not that I want to be the breaker of dreams,” said Cassandra, slowly getting out of their comforting embrace, “but we need to get back those planks we found before Lance thinks we’re dead or something.”

“Yeah, we should go,” conceded Rapunzel, before letting out a sigh. “I wonder what would have happened, you know, if you hadn’t gotten me back…”

“You know what, Blondie? I prefer not to think about it. You wanting to get back to the tower, well, it usually doesn’t end well for me.”

That made Rapunzel laugh a little, though it was more of a reflex to lighten up the ambiance. The only memory of the tower, and Mother, who she had wanted to go back to just hours from now, made her shiver from head to toes.

“Now,” said Cassandra as they were back near the campsite, “let’s get back to the caravan and get this thing started!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the ending I’m not totally convinced with. It’s not exactly what I had in mind when I started writing this chapter, yet, I didn’t want them to fight and not get along, so I’m keeping it.
> 
> The emotional anchor antidote to undo the memory spell is inspired by how Arianna and Frederick got their memories back later in the series, as they didn’t use any potion.  
> A knife-in-the-back kind of betrayal by Eugene was a possibility. But weighing the pros and cons, I wasn’t convinced by where that could lead for him, and for our main trio, so I chose to not keep it. At least, not in this chapter.
> 
> As of now, this chapter is the last of this headcanon, so the story is momentarily completed. Mostly because I’m not sure I’ll be able to write as much as I want in the next few days. What’s sure is that I don’t plan on doing a complete rewrite of the rest of the series with the drawings headcanon and what ensues in the different relationships. Got a whole bunch of other headcanons to write in head… And I wouldn’t want to exhaust the drawings headcanon that is, thinking back, more like an excuse to write some Cassunzel on the journey ^^  
> Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out what could change in the Dark Kingdom after the different discussions our characters had. That could lead to a last chapter.  
> Just know that even if I write other chapter(s?), I’m pretty sure to not include Zhan Tiri or even the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow… I prefer if the characters get things right by themselves, without any ancient demon 😉
> 
> See you with other fics! Or in this one when the time comes!


	4. House of Yesterday's Tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: panic attack, PTSD  
> I started this fic as a fluffy one-shot, now this chapter is quite angsty… Hope you don’t mind ^^’
> 
> How did it came to this? Well, as I was wondering about the actions of our characters in the Dark Kingdom, it came to my mind that, if I forgot Zhan Tiri and the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow as I said before, then Cass would never know about her mother… And as I wrote the characters being supportive to each other, I dared myself to write an alternate HoYT chapter. It’s simplified, I chose to not do all the episodes, so this chapter is mainly a rewrite of the flashback from S3E01. I’m still true to part of my words, Zhan Tiri isn’t here.
> 
> Here we go!

The storm was raging outside the caravan. They had managed to get the vehicle back on the road, still, it was more fragile now that it had ever been. Thunder roared as lightning stroke through the sky. A plank from the roof broke loose and water came in the caravan.

“Ok, that’s enough!” said Eugene, exasperated. “We need to find a place to crash tonight. I’m not staying all night here if it’s to be drown in the morning.”

“Well, we could try to go in this house,” said Rapunzel, showing from the window an odd-looking building on the side of the road.

“Is it a giant seashell?” asked Cassandra, trying to see anything in the downpour.

“Well, it’s better than to freeze to death,” said Rapunzel. “Who’s in?”

“I’m in!” said Lance, his voice coming from the other side of the caravan.

“I’m in too!” said Shorty.

“I don’t trust seashell houses this far from the sea, Raps, we should get in the forest and wait till the storm stops.”

“Cass, we should try to get in, if only for tonight… Just for as long as the storm passes…”

That didn’t seem to convince Cassandra.

“You can bring weapons,” finally told her Rapunzel.

“… Fine,” accepted Cassandra, readying the Demanitus spear.

She kept it as much as possible by her side as if it was a fancy sword. Which it wasn’t. It was way more than just that.

They went out of the caravan, and, in a hurry as the rain hadn’t stopped falling at all, they ran as one till the porch of the odd seashell-like house. Rapunzel knocked at the door, expecting anyone to answer. Someone came quite quickly and opened.

The man had the clothes of a landlord, well-dressed and completely out of the picture of where they were, in an area desert miles around.

“My, my, travelers in this horrible weather. Come, enter, please, make yourself comfortable. But no horse,” he said as Maximus and Fidella tried to get their hooves on the floor. “They tend to shed too much. It’s the stables for you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing guys,” Rapunzel told them, giving them a gentle pat on the neck. “You’ll wait for us with the caravan.”

Maximus neighed sadly and went back under the rain, followed by Fidella.

The humans took off their wet cloaks and went to the wide fire lighted in the fireplace, that was in the house’s seashell style. Once they were warmed up, they sat on the thick carpet on the floor, ready for a good night sleep.

“I’ll keep first watch,” said Cassandra, still up, the spear still firmly in her hands.

“Oh, dear,” the landlord said, coming down the stairs, “you should put this weapon down and get some rest. Be assured that you won’t need it here. The House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow is perfectly safe.”

“It’s okay,” said Rapunzel, “Cass is ready to stay up, and there’s nothing you could do to change her mind.”

She looked around, and noticed the lack of windows in the lower part of the room.

“Err, is there’s any window here? I’ve became a bit claustrophobic over the years…”

“Dear, there are windows, only in the upper floors. See, there are none here on the ground floor.”

“Well, it will have to do,” said Rapunzel, not showing her slight disappointment. “Good night, sir. And again, thank you for your hospitality.”

“Please, call me Matthews. Good night, dears. You may stay as long as you need.”

On these words, he went up the stairs, and they didn’t see him of all night. Cassandra looked around her. Lance and Eugene were on a sofa, already asleep, as was Shorty, on the floor next to the sofa. Rapunzel was sat, on a pile of cushions thrown on the carpet, and had readied her sketchbooks and pencils.

“You know you could sleep, right? I can wake you all up if something happens,” reminded her Cassandra, her back against the wall, leaning on the spear.

“Yeah, but this place looks amazing… I have to get a sketch or two for when we get back. We could try to have a building like this in Corona. It would be nice!”

“If you say so,” said Cassandra, unconvinced.

The strange seashell building hadn’t really appealed her, so having a similar one at her home didn’t exactly entertained her.

“Speaking of when we get back in Corona,” started Cassandra, “what do you think we’ll do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. Us. Together. And the kingdom, your parents, my dad. Eugene told us what he thought of us, but it’s not his role to decide all this. His voice is nothing compared to our parent’s voices.”

“Yeah… I guess we’ll think of it during the way back? They can’t get in the way if we love each other.”

“I know, but I’m still uneasy about it, Raps. Before we left Corona, they were about send me away for less than that, keep it in mind. We don’t know how they’ll react.”

“You’re not threatening my life, Cass, it’s different than the night we got out.”

“I wasn’t threatening your life then,” reminded her Cass, lifting a suspicious brow.

“The rocks still have a power we don’t completely understand, and, my hair caught in the bridge coming down… We could have died that night…”

“Right, I see… Hey, get some sleep, Raps. Really. You can still draw in the morning.”

“Hmm… Well, okay then… Good night Cass.”

“Sleep well, Raps.”

She closed her sketchbook, in which she hadn’t had the time to start any representation of the room around them. The fire gently warmed the air, and, finally, with a smile, Rapunzel closed her eyes and let herself be lost in a much-needed sleep.

At dawn, the sun came from the high windows of the house. The men of the team were still sleeping soundly. Rapunzel woke up, and she found Cass leaning sat against the wall. She had let herself fall asleep after all. Matthews seemed to not be here, so Rapunzel took her sketchbooks and, as she intended to do, started drawing the interior of the house from where she was. She added few details she remembered from the outside she had seen under the rain last night, and took her time to replicate the fine decorations made of seashells that were a bit everywhere in the room.

About half an hour after she woke up, Cassandra opened her eyes and saw her drawing.

“You didn’t wake me up?” she asked her beloved.

“You’re cute when you sleep,” said Rapunzel with a grin. “Here, come on the pillows, the floor is hard and cold.”

“Yeah. I should have came by your side to sleep, that’s what you’re trying to tell?”

“I won’t deny it,” admitted Rapunzel, giggling and patting the cushions.

“My, my,” said Matthews, coming down the stairs, “are you awake already? I set table in the dining room, if you care to join me.”

As one, Rapunzel and Cassandra shushed him and pointed the men still asleep. Matthews excused himself with a gesture and left them, still showing the way to the dining room up the stairs.

The princess artist went back to her drawings, while her dear swordswoman sat next to her on the pillows, cuddling gently on her side. Since their talk with Eugene, they felt more comfortable with this proximity, even though the rest of the team was nearby.

The room in itself was a marvel of ingenuity, all designed as if it had been built in a giant seashell. Light reflected on nacre, as pearls shone on pedestals and various decorations. High in the room, dandling from the roof, a chandelier held multiple big sized white pearls that moved like a wave the light coming from the high windows.

After some time, Cassandra accepted that couldn’t sleep again. She nudged Rapunzel’s side to get her attention, which was successful. The artist gave her one of the few sketches she had already done of the room. Though she hadn’t put any colors, the drawing was vibrant of light and details. Every drop of light seemed to get out of the picture, every pearls, every spike. Cassandra’s attention caught an error though.

“Here,” she said, pointing a plain wall on the drawing, “it misses a door.”

“A door?” checked Rapunzel on her drawing, then looking at the wall in question. “It wasn’t there before. I’m sure of it. I would have drawn it.”

“I have no doubt about it.”

“Shall we see what this door is about?”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Oh, come on, Cass, it’ll be fun. Imagine what could be behind it? Maybe secrets on this house… We have to go see what’s behind!”

“Err, what if that’s the innkeeper’s private quarters? We should just wait here till the boys wake up, and then we’ll be on our way.”

“Or… we could just knock and see, right? There’s no harm in knocking at a door that appeared from nowhere,” said Rapunzel with her usual perfectly innocent voice, already getting her stuff back in her bag, ready to go.

“I’m already regretting it, but… Don’t you go in without me,” sighed Cassandra, getting up with the help of the Demanitus spear.

“Let’s go then!”

She was already up and ready to knock at the wood, when Cass walked on her heels, not letting Raps go away from her sight for nothing in the world. She had a hand on the handle of the door, ready to open it. She knocked once on the wood. It was so varnished, it shone like a mirror. There was no answer to the knock.

“It’s exciting, don’t you think?” asked Rapunzel, stamping with impatience.

“We’d better go on with it, Raps, I don’t trust this place.”

“You don’t trust anything you don’t know,” reminded her her friend.

“Better that than a bad surprise on the other end. You open up or you back down?”

“Opening up it is…”

She turned the door’s handle and opened the leaf. Behind, there was a bright light, and they had to protect their eyes to not be blinded. They walked, and the door closed behind them.

In the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow, the door leaf reflected the room it was in. Then, the reflection blurred and appeared a mirror version of the room. Then, a puff of smoke troubled again the reflection, and it disappeared once again, only showing normal over-varnished plain wood.

On the other side of the mirror door, Rapunzel and Cassandra found themselves in a forest. A gentle breeze came from a clearing in front of them. They walked, Cass in front securing the path, Raps behind her marveling at their discovery.

“What _is_ this place?” asked Cassandra, unsure where to look for danger.

“It’s amazing!” said Rapunzel, already running around. “We were inside, and now we’re…”

“Outside, yeah, but these trees aren’t local. It’s like we’re not near the House anymore. These plants are from Corona…”

The swordswoman, her trustful spear in hand, knelt to look at a flower.

“This one, I’m sure of it, it can only be found in Old Corona… Something’s wrong. We should head back.”

“Err… To where? The door’s not here anymore.”

“What?!”

In fact, where the door stood when they entered was only a pile of broken bricks and wood.

“That lets us some time to discover,” said Rapunzel, stars of curiosity shining in her eyes.

“Not discover, investigate,” corrected Cassandra. “For all we know, we’re still in this House of Tomorrow’s Yesterday or whatever its name is, and we were transported somewhere else. We need to be ready for anything… Stay behind me, we can’t take any risk.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, Cass, I can take care of myself,” pouted the princess.

“I know, and I’m here to take care of both of us, and I’m the one with a weapon if needed. No argument.”

She resumed walking, Rapunzel right behind her, even if she tried to pass in front of her friend to see where they were going. She had a weapon too, she thought. Her unbreakable hair, for one. But she trusted Cass, it would be okay for both of them.

They walked in the forest till they found a path. There, they followed it. After a while, a cliff could be seen away. There was a river and a wooden suspension bridge crossing it. Upstream, there was a cozy cottage, with a watermill on one side. They crossed the bridge, as one, watching carefully for any potential trap.

“Feels familiar,” whispered Cass as they arrived by the door.

“What?”

“Nothing, Raps.”

“Okay… Do we knock?”

“I don’t know… Are we even supposed to be here? What would you want to say? “Hello, we walked down the path, there was your house, nice to meet you”?”

“Seems accurate.”

“I should have known. We should maybe head back… This place feels strange…”

“We’ve barely began discovering! I’m knocking.”

Before Cassandra could argue, Rapunzel had knocked. Or at least, tried to. Her hand and arm fell over the door as if it wasn’t there. This surprise made her fall, her upper body inside the house, while her lower half was still outside, her bag fallen next to her halfway through the door. Cass put a hand on the wood, it reacted the same way. She entered, and helped her friend get up.

“That wasn’t what I expected… Sorry, whoever lives here,” Rapunzel said out loud.

Cassandra didn’t say anything, she was looking at the room they had stumbled into. It felt… Really familiar… More than the exterior of the house. A fire was lit, the house wasn’t abandoned. It felt… strange.

A kid walked and crossed the room, a blue music box in her tiny hands. She had a green dress, and long raven-black hair, with a little curl on her forehead.

“Oh, Cass, look at her! She looks just like a kid version of you!” said Raps with a wide smile. Child Cass was adorable.

“I… think she is me… Look, we’re not in the mirror,” she said, pointing the reflection. “It’s like we’re ghosts, she doesn’t know we’re here.”

“Ghost? Hoo, hoo, I’m haunting this house!”

“Raps, this isn’t a joke, we shouldn’t be here, let’s go.”

She was already walking to the door.

“Wait, Cass, if this is really you, and this house, where you lived before Corona, don’t you want to know more about your childhood?”

“No. I had a perfect childhood, in Corona, with my dad. Let’s go.”

Child Cass had walked to the folding screen separating the room. She tried to give her music box to someone, sat behind the screen. Neither Cassandra nor Rapunzel could see who it was.

“Wind, please,” asked the child.

“Not now darling, Mommy’s in a hurry.”

At those words of the still hidden mysterious figure, Rapunzel felt the ground vanish under her feet. She fell on her knees, her breath suddenly unsteady.

“Raps!” shouted a frightened Cassandra, hearing her friend fall. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s dead… How… No… Can’t be…”

“Raps, listen to my voice… Who’s dead? I’m here… What is it?”

“Gothel…”

“Gothel? You mean, the woman who had kept you during all those years?”

Raps nodded, terror in her wide open eyes. Cass took her in her arms to help her sit better, and started patting her back, trying to calm her. Rapunzel lifted a trembling finger, and pointed behind her. The swordswoman tilted her head to see what Raps wanted to show her. It was her. Gothel.

“What the heck is she doing here?”

“She’s dead…” repeated Rapunzel, unable to move her glance from the woman who made the beginning of her live hell.

“This is an illusion, Raps, she isn’t real…”

“She is here…”

“Look, I’m going to go to her, and you’ll see it’s an illusion.”

“Stay close, don’t leave me! Please!”

“She won’t hurt you while I’m here. I promise.”

Cass tried to get away from the embrace she had put Rapunzel into, but couldn’t. Her beloved was firmly hung to her. Her life depended on her not letting go.

“Mommy,” said child Cass, walking toward Gothel, her music box still in hand.

“Oh, do I really have to do everything myself?” Gothel asked, annoyed.

She took the music box and winded it. A gently tune came out of it, and child Cass seemed to be happy with it. Gothel, without a word, went out of the house, and closed the door.

“She’s my… Mother?” realized Cassandra, still hung to Rapunzel.

“Can’t… Breath…”

“Follow my voice, just breath, take your time… Gothel’s gone.”

“She’s not dead… She could come back…”

“She’s gone,” repeated Cassandra, affirmative.

While trying to ease her friend’s pain, she was watching her past self tending to the house. The first days she was at the castle, Rapunzel had talked to her for hours about what Gothel had her do in the tower. Different child, same wicked mother.

At last, after who knows how long, Rapunzel’s breath calmed down a bit, and Cass felt her limbs relaxing.

“You feel better?”

“I hope so… This never happened before…”

“Well, it’s not everyday the one who doomed your life magically reappears in an illusion…” tried Cassandra, massaging her beloved’s upper arm.

Child Cass was still in the house, sweeping the floor, getting the dirt out.

“That brings bad memories,” said Rapunzel. “We should get going.”

Before Cassandra could answer, the illusion shifted. It wasn’t day anymore. Night had fallen quickly. Child Cass was on the bench by the window. She was watching outside, waiting. Then, sounds of horses running came from away on the path from the forest. Cassandra stood up, a reflex she had gained from living alongside guards for years. She helped Rapunzel up, whose breath seemed to had completely returned, though she was still uneasy on her feet. They went to the window, cornering Cassandra’s past self.

Horses appeared on the other side of the bridge. From them descended guards in armor, with torches and swords. They went to the cottage, beacon of light in the darkness of the night.

“Where is she? Where is the princess?!” shouted a soldier, before others came in and searched the place.

They found nothing. Only seconds after their arrival, Cassandra caught sight of a familiar cloak in the dark. Gothel. She had in her arms a package, baby-sized, and then, a bright yellow light came from a lock of golden hair hidden inside it.

“NO!” shouted Rapunzel, recognizing who Gothel held.

Gothel just had just stolen her, baby, from the castle. They were reliving _the_ night everything changed. Rapunzel tried to run, to prevent her life in the tower to happen, but Cassandra stopped her, a hand on her shoulder.

“There’s nothing we can do. It’s in the past,” she said with a sad tone.

Next to them, child Cass was trotting to the door, wide open because of the soldiers.

“Mama!” she cried in the night.

“Your mama’s gone”, said one of the soldiers, taking his helmet off. “You’re safe with me, little one.”

“I want my mama…”

He took her in his arms, and went to the door. Gothel had cut the wooden bridge and was running away. Watching her past self, Cassandra recognized the man who held her. Her father. He was here from the beginning. He had seen what happened. But, did anyone see who Gothel was? In the dark, the answer was unsure. It could have been anyone in this dark cloak she wore.

“She… Left me… She abandoned me, knowing I was still here…” realized Cassandra.

It was painful to watch. She had never exactly known what had happened that night. She had heard from her father years later, but, like everybody else, he had only part of the story. This was the whole truth. Her mother, who never backed down to satiate her selfish needs, had captured the one Cass would come to love. It felt strange… Did that made them sisters? Not by blood, sure, but they had shared a mother figure, even though Gothel was far from an exemplary mother.

“Are you ready to go?” asked Cass to her friend, while she was still watching her past self with a nostalgic face.

Rapunzel had sat on the bench, and had took her sketchbook out. On the pages, she had started to immortalize child Cass’ face, and expressions, and the way her father held her for the first time. It was odd, to see the captain with such a young face, when she only knew him older. He was already holding Cassandra like he would do for year, helping her becoming the woman she would grow to be, teaching her the ways of swordsmanship, Corona laws and sense of loyalty that pushed her to battle to find a place in the guards.

“Really? Drawing?” said Cassandra. “Now?”

“You want to remember or not?”

“Yes, but, we should really get back. Now. The guys will wonder where we are.”

“Just a moment.”

She added few details, quickly sketched the interior of the house, then closed her book. During that short time, Cassandra took back in hand the spear she had left on the floor while comforting her beloved earlier.

“The tower,” said Rapunzel. “Let’s go there. I want to know what happened.”

“I just said we had to get back,” firmly reminded her Cass.

“I know. And I want to know how Gothel welcomed me in the tower. I want to know, and today might very well be the only occasion I’ll ever have to find out what happened that night.”

“Fine,” sighed Cass. “Let’s follow her before she’s too far. Are you sure you’re ready for this though? You know, you just had quite a panic attack…”

“I’ll move over it… I always do… Let’s go.”

She stood up, confident, and walked to the door. The soon-to-be captain of the guards still held child Cass in his arms, and was watching the horizon, the path where the soldiers had come from, and far away, the castle, where Cassandra would live all the years to come.

Rapunzel didn’t take the path to go to the tower. Months ago, she had learned part of the maps of Corona when they were preparing their journey, and she knew another more direct way through the woods. They just had to follow the cliff side, and mind the caves and waterfalls.

When they arrived, the upper part of the tower barely started to be lighted by the rising sun. Gothel’s horse was nearby, grazing the grass and leaves of low trees.

Rapunzel was the first to go behind the tower to the hidden door. Cassandra held her back for a moment.

“Are you sure you want to do this? When you came back to the tower lately, it was in ruins. It’s not. I wouldn’t want you to see things you shouldn’t.”

“It’s okay, Cass. You said it yourself, it’s all in the past.”

She said that to reassure her friend, yet, who was she really reassuring most? Cassandra, or herself? She started to climb, steps after steps. Yes, it was difficult. The last time she had climbed there, plants had grown, and it was dark. There, the tower was still tended to, there was no dirt, no leaves.

As they arrived in the main room, Rapunzel paused. She knew Gothel couldn’t see her. Still, it was difficult. This woman had made her life a nightmare. And the worst part was that she didn’t realized that back then. But now she did. And it made her shiver.

“You know,” she started as she finally stepped into the room, helping Cassandra up, “when I had lost my memory the other day, and I didn’t know what would have happened if I went back to the tower… I never meant it to be like this.”

Cassandra didn’t answer. In front of them, Gothel was sat on a rocking chair. She had, attached on a shoulder strap, a skin of milk, and in her arms was the newborn princess, who was never meant to know who she truly was. Gothel was smiling, motherly, still, something wasn’t right. There was, in the air, a gentle song she hummed. But it wasn’t any song. It was the healing incantation. She hummed, then sang clearly, as she fed the baby, and the baby’s golden hair glowed. Her happy face was more because of her appearance becoming younger than because of her motherly instinct coming back with the baby she held in her arms.

“It must have been the first time she ever used me for the Sundrop’s power,” guessed Rapunzel.

“It doesn’t feel right,” said Cassandra. “We should go.”

“I just want to sketch her…”

“Gothel?”

“No, the baby, me.”

“You should get to it then,” said Cassandra, sitting nearby on the stairs leading to what would become Rapunzel’s bedroom.

“You… don’t want us to leave?” asked Rapunzel, surprised her friend didn’t told her they didn’t have the time.

“Whatever I say, you’ll still draw,” her beloved reminded her with a smile. “Just do it, and we’ll go. As much as it doesn’t feel right, it’s peaceful here. I… May miss my mom after all.”

“Cass, she was you mother, but, you saw how she treated you back there in the cottage,” said Rapunzel as she went to draw. “You would have lived like I did, imprisoned inside, with nowhere to go… You would never have learned to battle, to hold a sword, or ride a horse, all the things you love doing… If you had grown with her, you would have been sad, and it hurts.”

“I guess you’re right. But it hurts too to know she ditched me for your power. I don’t even know what to think! She was my mother, why didn’t she try to come back faster, or take me from the captain’s arms, I don’t know! It feels wrong.”

“Everything we’ve seen here so far feels wrong. Truth seems wrong.”

Outside, summer thunder echoed from far away. Gothel stood up, the baby still in her arms, and went to close the still opened window. As she drew, Rapunzel noticed how peaceful she had been, unaware of the struggle her disappearance caused in the kingdom. She had been too young to care, to understand. She was still innocent. She had always been, in a way, never knowing the truth about herself. And now that she knew, it felt wrong.

Eighteen years of fake truth told to her had collapsed, and even now, she was still trying to be the one she was born to be. Yet, was it who she wanted to be? She sighed as she sketched the baby’s face, and tiny hands holding the cover. Cassandra was right. It hurt. She closed her book and went directly down the stairs.

“You’re done? This fast?” asked her the swordswoman, on her heels.

“Yes. I can’t stay here any longer. Let’s go.”

Once she was out of the tower, she ran to through the woods. Cassandra tried to follow her, but she was fast, and Cass was still in her heavy armor. She had to stop, and went back to walk, only to find Rapunzel sat near one of the rocks hiding the tower, under the ivy. She was curled up, her knees brought to her face, and a faint sobbing came from her hidden face.

“Raps, hey, are you okay?”

“Do I look like I’m okay!?” she cried, letting the pain finally go away. “I can’t do it! We shouldn’t have come to the tower! I wanted to see what the past was like, to try to see the good in Gothel, like I did for years. But I just can’t! I know I need to move on, to leave her behind, but it’s difficult! I… I don’t know if I can.”

“Sure, you can. You’ve done great so far. Look, we’re together. We’ll find a way, like we’ve always done, Raps. I have faith in you.”

“But… You should hate me! Your mother ditched you for me! It’s all my fault!”

“Raps, look at me. You had nothing to do with it. You were a baby back then. How could you have done anything? You said it, I was better off in Corona after all. Tell me, if you know it, why are you crying?”

“I don’t want it to destroy us, Cass… Gothel, even dead, she’s still haunting us… Why, Cass, why?! Why can’t she leave us alone!?”

“Wish I knew. Hey come here,” she said, kneeling next to her, taking her beloved in a much-needed embrace. “She’s gone for good now. We’re going to find a way out of this place, find the guys, Max and Fidella, and we’ll be back on the road. We still have a lot of things to do, remember? Destinies, and all…”

“But what if I shouldn’t hold the Moonstone? What if I can’t? I can’t even face my own mother! What if I fail…”

Her voice was cracking with hiccups, she was letting the pain overwhelm her, and it hurt so much.

“You won’t. We’ll be there for you. You won’t fail. And if you need to take your time, you’ll take the time you need. We’re here with you, Raps. Gothel is gone. She can’t hurt you anymore. She can’t hurt us anymore.”

Rapunzel’s whole body was shaking with all the torments awoken by what they had seen in the woods. She was holding Cassandra, nearly not letting her breath that much as she squeezed the pain out of them both. Wind rose, and leaves rustled. Cassandra looked around, in case of anyone that could see them, or else. There was no one. And even if there was, they were part of the illusion, they couldn’t see them.

“Raps, I know you need time, but we should go. At least find the door. What’s left of it.”

“Not yet…” she said, still sobbing hot tears.

“I can carry you if you need. But we have to get going.”

“How can you be so insensible after all we’ve seen here!?”

“I’m not, Raps, I’m not… You know me… I’ll keep it hidden, and one day, it’ll all explode,” sighed Cassandra. “That’s how I grew up…”

“Then explode now, you know you need it, Cass… Stop internalizing the pain… It’s hurting you and it’s hurting me to know you keep it hidden…”

“We don’t have that luxury, we have to get going,” insisted the swordswoman, already trying to stand up.

She offered her hand to Rapunzel, but seeing she didn’t want to get up, Cassandra put an arm under her back, the other under her knees, and lifted her beloved, bridal style.

“Hey?!”

“I said I can carry you. Take the spear. Don’t let it go. Now, hold on tight, we have a door to find.”

And so, she went back to walk in the forest, less dark as minutes passes and the sun was higher in the sky, even with the dark clouds far away.

As she walked, the sharp spearhead scratched the trees bark and leaves. Cassandra, walking forward, couldn’t see it, but it caught Rapunzel’s attention. As the spear scratched, a rift opened on a dark matter, flowing like an obsidian cloud in the forest.

“Err… Cass… You might want to see this…”

She turned around. The black cloud was slowly filling the air.

“What the…?! Hang on!”

And she ran. She started the recognize the path they had walked on, the door’s ruins shouldn’t be far. She was slowing down. There, the door remains were there. Cassandra let Rapunzel back on her feet, and they faced the cloud coming their way. She held the Demanitus Spear ready to fight, to pierce this foggy enemy. She attacked first. The cloud retracted, and went back forth. It engulfed them, and then, they saw nothing but darkness and void.

When light came back, they were back in the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow, laying on the pile of pillows, as if nothing had happened at all. Matthews was nearby, in the stairs, inviting the rest of the team to join for a meal. From the high windows, there was no rain echoing, just the light of the sun gently infusing in the room. The storm had ended.

“My, my, dears,” said the innkeeper, “it was a night, am I right?”

“Hey, ladies, come, the food is exquisite here,” invited them Eugene from the stairs.

“We’ll pass this one,” answered Cassandra, putting a hand on her foggy forehead.

She turned her head and saw that Rapunzel had the same gesture.

“What a headache…” she heard her whisper.

“Are you hurt?” asked the innkeeper, too gently to be true. “I have some medicine that might help you.”

“No thanks,” said Cassandra, standing up with the spear to help her.

“Oh, you have seen the Past room, am I right? Really interesting, this one.”

“You knew what was in there?”

“My, no, I don’t know what you saw, dear.”

“Who _are_ you?”

“Just an innkeeper lost in the woods in this humble seashell house,” Matthews answered, a malevolent smile on his face.

Cassandra looked around. The main room hadn’t change much since they had left. The door they had crossed was still on the wall, but now, it was clear, its wood was covered by a mirror. On the other side of the room, the main door wasn’t there.

“Where’s the door?”

“Not here. It happens. Now, why don’t you and your friend join us for a meal? Your friends are already in the dining room.”

“We’ll stay here,” firmly said Cassandra.

She went to sit on the now empty sofa. Her head still hurt from what they had discovered with Rapunzel. Gothel… It was her fault they had lived like this. In a way, it was her fault too they were trapped in this house. If she hadn’t captured the princess that night, then all would have been different… But, it was the past, there was no going back.

Her headache came back, hitting her harder. Cass let the spear fall at her feet. Its sharpness scratched the sofa, and from it, the same odd black cloud as in the forest emerged.

“Not again,” she muttered to herself.

That caught the attention of Matthews, already going up the stairs.

“Fool! What have you done?!” he shouted when he saw the sofa, the floor next to it start to disappear in the cloud, then crumbling in a small tornado of black sand.

The walls were next. They fell, and from the doors in the corridors went rivers of sand, carrying the rest of the team.

“Err… Can someone explain what’s happening?” asked Lance, a fried chicken leg in hand.

“In my humble opinion,” said Shorty, “we are evicted from this house.”

“Out! Everyone! NOW!” shouted Cassandra, fighting her headache.

She took Rapunzel under her arms to help her out, and they ran. But the sand was gaining on them.

“Eugene! Catch!” she shouted, throwing him the spear that slowed her down.

“Got it!”

“You cannot escape this easily!” said Matthews, appearing between them and the door. “None shall leave the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow until I decide it.”

“Yes, we can!” retorted Cassandra, taking back the spear from Eugene’s hands, and throwing it to the innkeeper.

It impaled him, but in place of falling, he crumbled in sand, like the rest of the house.

“Creepy…” commented Eugene, taking back the spear as he followed Cassandra and the others out.

Soon, on the grass still wet by the storm, they watched the magical house disappear in the sand tornado. Nothing was left of it, if not for the small dune still on the grass.

“This place was fun at first, but now, brr, not going back in… Can we agree to never speak of that again?” asked Eugene.

“Agree!” shouted as one Cassandra and Rapunzel, still shocked by their discover.

“Hey, Rapunzel, that fell from your bag,” said Lance, giving her back one of her sketchbooks.

It was the one she had drawn in in the past illusion. She searched through the pages. Child Cass, the captain, herself baby, the tower, all was still there. She sighed, not really knowing if she should be relieved or angry it hadn’t disappear with the house. She put it back in her bag, and noticed everyone was looking at her, strangely.

“You okay, Sunshine?”

“I am, Eugene… I am… What happened in the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow... stays in the House of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said Cassandra.

Sounds of hooves came to them. Max and Fidella arrived. The caravan wasn’t far behind them. It seemed the storm hadn’t hurt the vehicle too much. Good thing. That had still a lot of road to do. Far away, the Dark Kingdom was still waiting for them. They were coming. And none could get in the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the beginning, I precised that Raps was a bit claustophobic. If I remember correctly, it's not canon, yet, I thought it was a quite logical outcome after being kept that many years in a tower and finally discovering freedom.  
> As for Cassandra, I think we can agree that if Zhan Tiri wasn’t in the cottage illusion to brainwash her over and over, she would have, I hope, stood closer to Rapunzel, knowing that they partly lived the same life, because of the same very ungrateful mother… After all, someone who wanted for years to protect her kingdom wouldn’t have turned her back so easily on her friends... Right?
> 
> By the way, you might have noticed the title change... I thought it was more fitting, considering I'm not using the drawing headcanon as a main part of the plot in the last two chapters.
> 
> Though I don’t know when I’ll do it because of school coming back, I’m still planning to write an alternate ending in the Dark Kingdom… Plus, I have other fanfic ideas I'm currently writing... Stay tuned!


	5. The Dark Kingdom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there!  
> Coming back with a last chapter. It should be the last of this not-a-one-shot-anymore story.  
> By the way, I usually take few days between the moment I write a story and the moment I choose to post it, because that’s how big of an anxious writer I am ^^’ Well, this time, I’m facing my fears (I think) and I’m bringing you the last chapter of this fic I finished writing a couple of days ago.
> 
> Well then, today folks we go to the Dark Kingdom!
> 
> I went full magical with this one! It was really fun to write, even if it’s a bit away from the previous chapters.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Watch out!” shouted Eugene, as a giant ghost axe flew through the room.

He jumped forward, getting Shorty out of the way. Couldn’t this guy just stay with the horses?

“Incoming!” he heard the king – his father as it seemed – scream, running with his own battle axe into battle.

A ghost disappeared from behind Eugene as he saw Cassandra’s sword fly right above his head.

“Hey, watch it!”

The swordswoman didn’t answer, and instead ran to get her sword back, kicking another ghost away from her path. Said ghost took a frying pan punch in the face, but that kind of weapon didn’t seem to be as efficient as sharp edges on him.

“Raps! Catch!” shouted Cassandra, throwing the Demanitus spear to the princess.

Just in time, the ghost was impaled on the magical spear and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Thanks,” shouted back Rapunzel, grabbing the spear at mid-air. “Look, the door’s open! Let’s go!”

She ran to the door leading to the Moonstone’s chamber. A large pillar had fallen, and she, with Cass and Eugene after her, had to crawl their way under it to go inside. The rest of the team will have to manage keeping the ghosts away as long as possible.

  
The Moonstone.

It was there, just meters ahead of them. All that was left to do was walk forward, and grab it. And all would be over. At last. All that was left to do was walk forward.

Black rocks emerged from the walls and moat around the Moonstone. They were building a mineral black bridge, for the trio to walk upon.

They looked each other, and as one, nodded and walked forward. It had to be done. The Moonstone had to be neutralized by the Sundrop. That was how things were meant to be.

Rapunzel was now a couple of meters away from the Moonstone. The coral-like structure that protected it slowly disappeared. She felt on her shoulders the weight of the task at hand, but also and more importantly, the hands of her two beloveds, together by her side, now more than ever. Until she felt one of the hands leave her shoulder. It was Eugene’s.

“Eugene? What is it?” asked Rapunzel, noticing the worry in his eyes.

“Sunshine… what if it’s not you who’s supposed to take the Moonstone?”

“I’m… I’m the only one who can withstand its power, Eugene. The Sundrop can protect me.”

“What if it’s not enough?”

“Fitzherbert, we know what we’re doing. What has the old man told you? You’re not yourself.”

“You want to know what he told me, Cassandra? Well, he told me I had a dad, that I’m apparently the prince of this ruined kingdom and that the role of all kings since the beginning was to protect the world from the Moonstone. So, maybe I’m being over-dramatic but… The Moonstone isn’t to be kept away for no reason.”

“Can it, Eugene, you sound like Hector.”

“I do not!” retorted Eugene, offended by the comparison.

“We still need to figure out what we’ll do, guys,” reminded them Rapunzel, taking a step forward. “And we don’t have much time,” she said looking behind them the still raging battle against ghosts and statues.

“Then, let me do this,” said Eugene, walking to her side.

“Don’t play the hero, Fitzherbert, it’s not worth it!” said Cassandra, joining them closer to the Moonstone.

They were now less than half a meter away from the opal. One would just have to extend an arm, and it would be done. All would be over.

“So, you know what it’ll do then?”

“I know as much as you do, and if anything must happen, we’ll do it together.”

“You know I can’t let you do that, guys,” said Rapunzel, turning to face them both. “The Moonstone can kill you.”

“The Moonstone and Sundrop could destroy you if reunited,” sharply reminded Cassandra.

“What?! Since when do we know that?” shouted Eugene.

“Adira told us this was probable while you were catching up with your old man,” explained Cassandra. “Rapunzel, we can’t let you do that. It’s for your own good.”

“Stop telling me about my own good! I can take care of myself!”

“Whatever we do, whatever happens today,” said Eugene, “I just want to tell you guys… I love to be in your team. And I love you. Both. In different ways, sure, but still. Come here…”

The girls didn’t have time to ask what all this was suddenly about. They were caught in his embrace. Rapunzel returned it right away, laying her head on Eugene’s shoulder, while Cassandra stayed a bit out of her place for a moment. But that wasn’t the worst. While they were there, together at the end of their journey, none could see the Moonstone anymore. Only Eugene could. And he knew what to do.

There was a flash of light, a cry of pain, and blue swirls of lightning fusing from the Moonstone. And the hand around it.

And in an instant, they were on the ground, kneeling in front of the light emanating from the Opal, lighting the room through skin and bones closed around it.

“Eugene! Let it go! It’ll kill you!” shouted Rapunzel, trying to reach the Moonstone, but held back as well as possible by a protective Cassandra.

“I… Can’t…” managed to mumble Eugene, kneeling as well, curled up around the Opal, unable to let go of it.

He was suffering, there was no doubt about it. But no one could reach him. The Moonstone had reacted, and the bridge of black rocks linking the rest of the team to the lone pedestal was crumbling away in the dark void of the cold chamber. Even Rapunzel and Cassandra were on the other side of the bridge now. There were only about two meters at its largest, but if they failed the jump, who knew who deep and dark the fall would be?

Light burst into large swirls of around Eugene and the Moonstone. And then, there was only dark. For too long.

Until, against all odds, another smaller swirl of blue lightning appeared on the pedestal, cracking like a fire in the dark. Where Eugene had stood minutes ago, there was a shadow, a black form, curled up on itself, curled around the Moonstone that couldn’t be seen by anyone.

Slowly, the black rocks bridge reappeared, the rocks leaning toward the center of the room, closing the gap. And as the rocks grew once again, Rapunzel got out of Cassandra’s protective arms to ran on the newly recreated path.

“Eugene?” she asked, a helping hand toward the human form on the ground.

“I’m okay,” he said, obviously lying, his few words torn with pain.

“No, no you’re not,” she said, kneeling next to him, hesitating to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, but reminiscing what had happened, in the Great Tree, to Cass’ own hand, with the dark power of the incantation linked to the Moonstone.

They could hear the door open far behind them. Cassandra was walking on the bridge toward the two of them, while Lance and the rest of the group were still on the other side.

“Don’t… Please… Don’t stay here for me…”

He was wincing at every single word he let out.

“Eugene, no, you’re hurt, we have to help you…”

“Sunshine, no, this isn’t your fight anymore. It never was to begin with.”

“You could have died,” reminded Cassandra, more confused and concerned than angry.

“I didn’t. But, Rapunzel, you would have died. That’s what they said, right? The Sundrop and Moonstone held together? Go boom?”

He tried to laugh a little to lighten up the heavy discussion, but it only brought more pain to his chest. What was he supposed to do now? It felt to him the Moonstone he still held in his hand tried to make its way out of his fists, crawl away, but in the meantime, all too close, deadly warmth against his chest like a nest it wanted to reach. Finally, he couldn’t fight it anymore. He let go of the opal in his hands, and it ran like a bullet toward his heart. It hurt. As much as a real bullet would struck, the Moonstone found its place on his chest and it hurt.

And as soon as the stone was in the place it deemed righteous, the pain melted away, like ice resting too long under the summer’s sun. Eugene still felt the cold, the pain inside of him, but now, it was residual, and though there was this chilly feeling pulsing from the Moonstone, its calm made him fell less freezing than before.

Trembling, he put his hands on the hard ground made of black rocks. They were so flat, so polished even, they showed him his reflection. And in the rocks, his face showed him a halo of bright electric blue around his face that now was paler than before. And around him, there were still crackling swirls of lightning coming from his clothes. Only that they weren’t his clothes anymore. The Moonstone had created some sort of armor encasing him and the fabric he wore, black rocks fibers filled with pulsing rivers of deep blue light, like the Stone itself.

Next to him, he felt Rapunzel and Cassandra holding their breath. He must be looking terrible. On the brink of death maybe. Agonizing. Deep inside, he knew he wasn’t. On the contrary, he felt even more alive than ever. But they couldn’t know. And then, there was a light sound, a tear dropping on the hard and cold rocks.

Eugene lifted his head, and his eyes met Rapunzel’s.

She was struck, unable to move. Without doubt reliving the Day he first died. The only day he died.

Slowly, he moved, unsure whether the material forming his newfound armor would follow his every movement or if, curse the stone if it happened, it would freeze him in the rocks, as Varian’s father had been, and still was.

Why did he went for the Moonstone? It hurt his friends, it hurt himself. They could have all died. But inside, deep inside, so deep inside it was like a dream forged that day by the new realization that he had a past, and that this past he had ignored for so long was leaping toward him, rushing even, and all he needed to do was embrace it. Embrace the destiny of the kingdom that was the land he came from. And that realization, it was the impulse that drove him to take the Moonstone. And now, all he could think about was regrets. He had hurt his friends. The ones he loved.

And so, he left his curled position face down to the rocks and bend slightly as to face both women by his sides. A smile of evident relief crossed their faces. He brought a hand to cup Rapunzel face, as she leaned into the touch, relieved that he wasn’t like he had been long ago. Dead.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to her. “I had to.”

“You’re okay. It’s all that matters,” she whispered back.

“What did you even think you were doing?” asked Cassandra, too shook by his reckless act to sound angry.

“The Moonstone is important to the Dark Kingdom. It’s… its life,” realized Eugene. “If anyone had to take the stone, it had to be someone from here.”

“What gives?” asked Cassandra, sounding more like her normal self. “You didn’t even knew you were from here this morning!”

“Yet now I know. Look, we could argue for hours. We always do. But not this time. This time I knew I had to do it.”

“You should have told us,” said Rapunzel, standing up to put some distance between them.

“Sunshine… I should have, yes. But I couldn’t. And now, our paths part.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Rapunzel, that my place is here now. It’s not dreamy, but it’s here. And your place is in Corona. Both of you.”

“I don’t get it,” said Cassandra, standing up next to Rapunzel.

Eugene was still kneeling on the ground of black rocks. Rapunzel offered him a hand to stand up. He refused it.

“You know what I mean, Cass. I came first. But that doesn’t mean my place is to stay with you both. I believed in dreams. Rapunzel, you made me believe in dreams. But we know dreams are… a way to help us get closer to our true destinies. Nothing is ever written, sure, I could still go with you, come back in Corona, and we all would have our big happily ever after. But for what? The Sundrop. The Moonstone. These forces we don’t even understand perfectly, can we say no to them? I can’t go back. Not now. Ever? No idea.”

“Eugene, you can’t just stay here… This kingdom… It’s dead, there’s no one here, no life can stay here.”

“Sunshine, my… still hard to say it but, my dad is here. I didn’t even know I had a family, and now I have one. You’ll still be in my heart, that doesn’t change a thing,” he precised when he saw her worry look. “But now, I know I’m not the only one in your heart. I know you love Cass, and that Cass loves you, Sunshine. Why would I stand between you?””

“Sacrificing yourself for us won’t make you the hero, Fiztherbert,” retorted Cassandra. “You don’t get to decide our lives.”

“That’s true. I don’t.”

“Please, don’t leave us, Eugene,” pleaded Rapunzel, sitting back in front of him, a hand extended to him to take.

He reached for her hand, but only centimeters away from her, he stopped.

“Sunshine,” he started with a mournful voice, “I can’t touch you anymore. I can’t take the risk. The Sundrop, the Moonstone, they’d be together… I don’t want us to end like this.”

The realization crossed Rapunzel’s face in a grimace where grief, horror and terrible loss melted together all at once. She retreated her arm, hanging onto it as if it had been burn but the Moonstone. She felt Cass’ own right hand in its gauntlet on her shoulder. She turned away and tucked her beloved cloak, bringing her to her knees, the need so strong to feel herself close to safety, to hold onto one she desperately cared about, yet unable to do it with the one who needed it most at the moment. From the corner of the eye, she could see Eugene lower his face, his expression unreadable.

For a moment, the lightning of the Moonstone slowed, and calmed. That was when the light was at its dimmest that Rapunzel felt something change.

It was in her, on her chest, so close, so far all at once, a warm feeling of familiarity, the gathering of energy once infused in her whole flesh and bones.

And light came back. But it was no blue Moonstone light. It was a bright yellow light, emanating from Rapunzel’s chest, above her left breast, where a golden opal in the form of a drop was now resting, its glow mirroring the Moonstone’s.

“Whoa,” let Cassandra escape from her half opened mouth.

She was kneeling beside them both, Eugene at her left, Rapunzel at her right.

“The Sundrop,” voiced Eugene and Rapunzel at the same time, a grin forming on their faces.

“But… what do we do now?” asked Rapunzel, still determined to leave no friend behind.

“We do what we came here to do,” said Cassandra, taking their hands in hers, and guiding them to stand up.

They followed her, Eugene holding her left valid hand, Rapunzel her scarred right hand she held with her two own, massaging the hurt skin under the gauntlet.

“We’ve done all this together, right? We’ve gone so far, there’s no way we finish this alone. Are you with me?” asked them the warrior.

“I’ll always be with you,” assured Rapunzel, giving a gentle squeeze to her hand.

“I’ll stay by your side, Cassandra,” confirmed Eugene, without any of his typical accent on her name.

Behind them, they could feel the weight of the looks of the others by the door, on the other side of the gap.

As Cassandra had in both her hands the hands of those she cared about, both holding powerful artifacts, she felt herself float. Literally.

They were all floating, suspended by the might combined of the Sundrop and the Moonstone. As soon as their hands were linked, they were not separated anymore. The powers flowing through the gems were passing from one another. They weren’t blue, or yellow, they were both, so much a twinkle of green seemed to appear where the magics merged.

They were not on their own to give in to the Sundrop and Moonstone’s powers. They had each other. And the Sundrop and Moonstone’s powers were resting on all of them.

The Sundrop’s magic flow through them was warm, a summer breeze over a beach of white hot sand were one could fall to never wake up. The Moonstone’s magic flow through them was chilly, a winter gale over a frozen glacier one could hit and wake up only in many years.

Rivers of warmth and strikes of freeze stroke them all. Yet, they didn’t feel a thing. They felt all at once.

And then, slowly yet with firm will, the flows went up to their head, to their hairs, up, up, up until their was nothing else but the void of the empty room. As one, they all lifted their heads toward the ceiling of shining black rocks reflecting the light show, the auroras.

Yet, they saw nothing. Their eyes were wide open, yet all the magic in them made them blind to all that was not magic. All they saw was bright light, swirling, thundering in their ears, tingling their senses, their very flesh, and nothing else of the whole world around them.

They were glowing, all of them, eyes and hair bright golden and turquoise, with colors dancing on them. The dance slowly escaped them, as the swirls of lighting appeared above their skins and clothing.

It was magical. All three floating a meter above the ridge, not immobile, moving lightly, like supported by giant invisible pairs of wings on their backs. And what wings! The light undulating around them, at some points, nearly showed reflections of feathers on their backs. Bright translucent yellow and blue feathers, like glass, fragile yet unbreakable all at once.

As time went on, the wings appeared more and more clearly to the others still on the other side of the bridge.

And then, the wings stormed upward, up to the ceiling, and they flew. The ceiling of smooth black rocks opened like a flower warmed by the morning sun, letting the light and warmth of the returning star emerged once again in the Dark Kingdom, no longer dark.

All three of them, Rapunzel holder of the Sundrop, Eugene holder of the Moonstone, Cassandra holder of both her friends and their powers, looked down on the castle. Though they had nothing to be scared of with the might of the Sundrop and Moonstone pulsing through them three, the height was frightening.

The magical artifacts seemed to sense this unease. Like feathers falling from the sky, they came back near the ground, near a black rock balcony looking east, toward the rising sun. Their wings spread around them were forming like a glass feathery tent, behind which all was blurry, yet crystal clear as light reflected and refracted and showed its light in all its many colors.

And then, with a bright flash in the ending night, a large column of yellow swirls and blue lightning left, up, up, up to the sky and what rested beyond.

It was blinding to all below, in the castle. But not to the three above, on the black rock balcony. The black rocks around them, with the light rushing away, for a moment seemed white. And when the light dimmed again, the rocks harder than anything, went away as well, black powder like flour floating and flying in a maelstrom to the dark of space. Even the black rock shard fashioned into a sword left them, and the weapon disappeared into oblivion.

Rapunzel, Cassandra and Eugene were still on the ledge under the black rock balcony, that had left them as well. They were all on their knees, eyes closed, arms around each other’s shoulders. Between them and the cold and hard rock was a pillow of hair. But it wasn’t golden like the sun anymore. It was back to Rapunzel’s natural brunette color. Under the black rock armor he had wore for a short time, and yet too long, Eugene had his clothes, shredded and torn, yet it was the only reminiscence of the armor. Cassandra felt a tingle in her right arm. It felt strange, hurting like a prickle and yet, it felt reassuring.

Cassandra was the first to move her arm, and bring her right hand in her left, looking at it, unsure whether to take off the gauntlet or leave it there. When they saw her hesitate, Eugene and Rapunzel put their hands on hers, and all three of them took the gauntlet off.

Her hand was scarred, a battlefield, emaciated, but, there was no soot-like black rock dust to cover it anymore. It was gone with the Sundrop and Moonstone. It would take time, weeks or even years, yet her hand would heal. Would it ever be as strong as before? Certainly never. It would heal, in time.

This realization calmed their heavy breathes, their racing heartbeats. They were all fine. At last. After months of travel, months of doubts whether they’d get to the end, of doubts whether they’d survive together or die together, at last they were safe.

They needed no word to look at each other, and fall into a much needed embrace.

From far behind them, the rest of the group arrived from inside the castle. They were safe too. The ghosts had been dealt with, and the castle was free of them and of the black rocks. It now looked strangely the same, yet at the same time, much brighter than when they arrived the day before. The Dark Kingdom wasn’t Dark anymore.

“First day as prince,” said Rapunzel into Eugene’s ear, “and you already save your kingdom.”

“I wasn’t alone,” he reminded with a smirk.

“Not bad for a beginner, Fitzherbert,” still confirmed Cassandra.

“Eh, what can I say, we did it together. We’re unstoppable.”

They all laughed, the euphoria of the victory gaining on them. When, after a long couple of minutes, they calmed and stood up, helping each other. Around them, the land they arrived in was unrecognizable. Where black spikes were stabbing through the ground, where lances of death were piercing to the sky, now there was one earth, empty ground, on which grass and trees wouldn’t wait to grow again.

The others arrived, now only few meters away from them. They ran toward each other. It felt good to see friends again. For a moment, with the Sundrop and the Moonstone’s power flowing in them, it had felt like the end, like there would be no tomorrow. But there would be. New, shining tomorrows.

Something wasn’t right though.

The king was there. And he was kneeling. Eugene stepped forward to his dad and offered him his hand to take, to stand up. King Edmund refused it, turning his head away.

“For years,” he said with his deep voice, “I thought I’d be the last of the Dark Kings. That after me, no one would protect the Moonstone. That the world could fall because of its deadly powers. Everything I ever thought I knew was wrong, son. You are here. The line of the Dark Kings and Queens won’t end. You and your friends sent the Moonstone away. I have no need to protect my kingdom anymore, now that it had found a new protector in you.”

“I…”

Eugene couldn’t answer.

“I don’t think I’m ready,” he blurted.

“I wasn’t ready when I took the crown either,” said king Edmund.

He took his crown off his head, and stood up solemnly.

“A new kingdom needs a new king,” he stated.

Behind Eugene, there was only silence, gasps and high surprised squeaks. He seemed pensive, not ready for sure, yet, the seed of an idea was growing in his mind. He held a finger to tell his dad to wait a moment, and turned to Rapunzel and Cassandra behind him, walking a few steps with them away from the rest of the group.

“I can’t do that, I can’t leave you,” he said to them.

“This is who you are, Eugene,” said Rapunzel, putting a gentle hand on his cheek. “You would have been prince when we would have been in Corona. But here, you’re home. This is your destiny.”

“And there I thought you had speeches on dreams, Blondie,” he commented with a small laugh, recalling their very first dream talk at the Snugly Duckling.

“What can I say?” asked Rapunzel. “People change. I don’t want to see you leave either but… We could still come back to see you, or you could come to Corona.”

“Now that we know the way,” added Cassandra, “it won’t take half a year. There’s a kingdom in need of a leader, in need of rebuilding. I’d never thought I’d support you that much but you’ll do great here.”

“Why am I not surprised? You only want to see me away from Corona, don’t you, Cass _an_ dra?”

“Ah ah, you caught me!”

“We’ll miss you.”

“Hey, Sunshine, I didn’t even accepted my dad’s offer yet…” he paused, realizing how much this word felt weird in his mouth. Gears started to run in his brain. “Okay, you know what? I’ll accept…”

“Aww! I’m proud of you!” told him Rapunzel, giving a squeeze to his shoulders.

“… But, I need to know something first.”

“We’re listening,” said Cassandra, prepared for a joke of his.

“You two are perfect together, you know that right?” he said with a smirk.

Rapunzel and Cassandra looked at each other, unsure why he brought this suddenly to the conversation.

“I suppose we are,” said Rapunzel, trying to predict what he would say next.

His smirk only got wider.

“Right,” he said. “How would you like receiving a royal blessing?”

“Eugene!” reacted Rapunzel, shocked.

“I don’t think you have any power to do this,” reminded Cassandra.

“Not yet,” he said, “but with a crown on my head, I could. Say, I know you love each other. You’d rule perfectly. I know you two. You’re complementary in a way I never completely could.”

“We’re only complementary if you’re with us, Eugene,” retorted Rapunzel, clearly not liking his idea. “We won’t end this way. You may be on your way to be a king, but I’m still a princess, and as far as we know, you’re still a subject to Corona. Don’t make me order you. Please.”

“It’s not an end, Sunshine,” he precised with a melancholic smile. “It’s a new beginning. A new opportunity. Let’s see it this way. This kingdom is old, and fragile. The king, my dad,” he said, forcing himself to say the word, “is counting on me. I know your dad didn’t always make the right decisions, but I know you wouldn’t let him down. I can’t let mine down either.”

He took her hands in his, and looked at her eyes, starting to wet at the sudden realization of a real farewell.

“This kingdom needs help. Who has help? Corona has. We know people from the Dark Kingdom came to Corona. These two kingdoms don’t have to stand apart anymore.”

“There are other kingdoms between Corona and the Dark Kingdom, genius,” reminded Cassandra.

“Well, I never said we should annex one to the other. But we could forge an alliance. What do you say? I never said I had to reign from here, when there’s no one. I’ll need to get the people of the Dark Kingdom back! And you, Sunshine, you know better than anyone I know how to motivate people. And you, Cass, who would be better than you to assure the safety of those coming back home?”

“Is it me or is Eugene Fitzherbert saying something sensible? I never thought I’d hear that one day.”

“Ah ah, jokes on you, I just proposed you a job.”

“Eugene, as much as this is an interesting idea, don’t you want to think about it?”

“It’s already thought.”

“In less than a day?” checked Rapunzel, skeptical.

“Right, sure, there are still things I need to think through. But an alliance between the Dark Kingdom and Corona? We’d never be apart! You’d be two ruling queens and I’d be a prince, no, king ruling his not-forgotten-anymore kingdom. This is my new dream. To have all three of us happy.”

As Rapunzel was about to retort, and Cassandra weighting the pros and cons of this unexpected turn of event he suggested, they heard steps behind them. They turned as one, and saw king Edmund walk to them.

“Is everything alright? I… I didn’t want to break you, I know I asked big things, but I’m just an old man who hasn’t seen a lot of people in years, and I’ve never had anyone in my kingdom for more than two decades, and I’m all alone, I speak to myself, I just want my son to be the person he was born to be, I just want to see my kingdom shine again, and son, you’re the only one I can ask for that.”

“I’ll do it,” said Eugene, decided. “I’ll take the crown of the Dark Kingdom. And I shall bring it to Corona. And we shall create a new crown to guide both kingdoms. Unless…” he turned to Rapunzel, “Corona royalty decides otherwise.”

King Edmund looked at her with his weary eyes worn by the years. He had hope in them, dreams that his kingdom would see the light again. And Rapunzel knew that one day or the other, she would be part of those bringing back the light to the Dark Kingdom. Let this be this day.

“We’ll do it. Let this be the beginning of a brand new era for both our kingdoms,” she said, pulling her fist to the sky to lift their spirits.

King Edmund’s eyes brightened. The sun reflected on his face, and on the tears of joy falling from his eyes.

“We’ll do this as we did everything,” confirmed Cassandra, joining Rapunzel in her rallying speech. “We’ll do it together!”

“I knew I could count on you,” cried the king, bringing all three of them into a crushing bear hug.

“Can’t… breath,” mumbled Eugene against his fur cloak.

Edmund released them quickly, chuckling.

“Oh, yes, sorry, I’ve been alone for too long, and all is suddenly changing… Gotta be emotional sometimes!”

“It’s okay dad. You’ll have all the time to be emotional. We’ll bring back the Dark Kingdom to its glory!”

“And I’m sure your people will love to come back in their homeland,” added Rapunzel.

“Err, speaking of his people,” noticed Cassandra, “there might be someone in need of our help in Old Corona.”

“Quirin!” snapped Eugene and Rapunzel at the same time.

“He’ll be okay,” said Adira, coming to them. “The reunification of the Sundrop and Moonstone sent the rocks away. It must have done the same to the amber.”

“That makes sense,” admitted Cassandra. “But I still don’t like you.”

“Likewise, Short Hair. But that doesn’t change a thing. You saved us all.”

“I’m not the only one to thank. Right guys?” she turned to face Rapunzel and Eugene.

She didn’t have the time to extend her arms to them that she felt Rapunzel’s tight embrace against her chest.

She returned the hug, Eugene hugging them both from behind Rapunzel, looking at Cassandra with a knowing grin. She narrowed her eyes with a “what are you waiting for to make a joke” glance. But he stayed silent.

He only moved to twist his head on the side and put a gentle kiss on Rapunzel’s cheek, just above her neck. She giggled at the tickling touch, then twisted her head on the side as well. Though, she wasn’t aiming for Eugene.

Cassandra was the one to receive her lips on hers. She closed her eyes under the light contact that in a second deepened. When she opened her eyes again, Eugene was shooting her a “told you so” glance. Cassandra couldn’t hide her smirk.

From the beginning, they had done all this together. Sure, there had been times of fear, of doubts, but in the end, they had succeeded. And through strife, they’d won, through the dark path to the Moonstone, they’d saw the light of the Sundrop, through the blinding light of them both coming together, they were clang together like it could have been the end. They won’t stop soon to win their quests together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for following it till the end!  
>   
> So… This fic has become kind of a hodgepodge of ideas I had for the main trio…  
> I hope the quality didn’t drop too much in the last chapters. As I said before, there are some points I’m not totally convinced with, so if you’re aren’t either, that’s okay ;-) I'm curious to know what you think of it though...  
>   
> By the way, I’m currently working on other Tangled fics and the chapters hold themselves better than here, like the Les Miz/Tangled one, already posted entirely (“Flower on a Cloud”). And btw, when I said earlier that I’m kinda anxious when it comes to writing… I wrote the Tangled/Les Miz fusion literally before summer XD  
> I’m also currently posting a Gothel origin story, that will serve as foundation for the next parts in which we’ll go full canon divergence for a big rewrite of "what if Cass had lived her childhood with her mother"... The whole story is under the title "Retelling Corona's Tales".  
>   
> Well then… I’ll see you there! Stay tuned!

**Author's Note:**

> As English isn’t my main language, if I let errors slip, feel free to point them out, it’ll help me have a better writing for my next stories!


End file.
